318 
DECIDUOUS TREES. 
columnar stems, with a parasol-like tuft of foliage at the top; but 
as they are gradually exposed on all sides to the sun the head 
widens rapidly, the tall trunk covers itself from root to branch with 
a picturesque small spray peculiar to this elm, the outer branches 
of the top begin to droop and fall like spray from a fountain, until 
the whole tree assumes a loftier grace than belongs to its lower 
and broader-crowned sisters of the eastern valleys. Fig. ioi is a 
sketch of a young forest elm that is beginning to develop the 
changes just described. Unfortunately, however, such forest- 
grown trees, if more than forty or fifty 
years old, usually fall victims of the first 
summer tornado that finds them in its' 
track. 
For the formation of wide avenues the 
elm, in congenial soil, has no equal among 
trees. But it should never be planted in 
narrow streets, nor nearer than forty feet 
asunder in wide ones. Its great size and 
breadth of head should also cause it to be 
sparingly planted in or near small grounds, 
if a variety of shrubs or small trees are 
desired. 
The roots of the white elm feed quite 
near the surface, so that surface manuring 
in autumn is a wonderful stimulant to its 
growth. Large street trees are often se¬ 
riously injured in old villages by the gradual accumulation of gravel 
and broken stone incident to annual road improvements, until the 
feeding roots are so covered that they cease to have any rich 
surface to feed in. In other places noble old trees are being 
literally starved to death, while the good people who walk under 
them are wondering why their elms do not look as well as for¬ 
merly. Streets much travelled are continually enriched by drop- 
pings, and where the soil is not covered by water-proof pavements, 
there is little danger of trees in such streets suffering from this 
cause. But many instances have come under our observation of 
elms in villages and cities that languish for want of fresh food and 
Fig. ioi. 
