CHAPTER XLIV.

ON THE ELM.

To the critical botanist the study of the different kinds of Elm is one of the most perplexing subjects he has to cope with, the fact being, that if the seed of any one form be cultivated, the results will seldom or never be uniform, for not only may several well-known varieties be produced from the seed of a single tree, but even new forms may thus be obtained.

On this account have arisen the great discrepancies one meets with in authors as regards nomenclature; some making many species of the Elms commonly met with in Great Britain, while others reduce them to two; viz.—

Ulmus campestris—Small-leaved, Common Upright or English Elm.
Ulmus montana—Large-leaved, Spreading Scotch or Wych Elm.

But though these are the names used by most authors to distinguish these two well-recognized forms, yet they have been reversed in Dr. Arnott’s edition of Hooker’s “Flora,” thus:—

Ulmus suberosa (Ehrh.)—Common or English Elm.
Ulmus campestris (L.)—Broad-leaved or Wych Hazel.

Now it is not our object to enter into a discussion on the much-vexed question of species, and therefore, without even determining whether the English and Scotch Elms be absolutely distinct, we shall yet describe as two well-established forms of forest trees, and endeavour to put them in their proper position among profitable and ornamental timber trees, to which end we would distinguish them as follows:—

1. Ulmus campestris.2. Ulmus Montana.
(English Elm.)(Scotch Elm.)
Leaves small, doubly-notched at the margin, with an alternation of larger and smaller teeth (alternately serrate).Leaves larger, divided into segments at the margin, which segments are notched with fine serrated teeth.
Fruit small and flat, with a deep notch at the apex; bunches somewhat small and inconspicuous.Fruit large and flat, with a slight notch at the apex; bunches large and having the general appearance of bunches of hops.
Branches more or less spreading, inclining to be rough or even corky (suberose). Twigs more orless hairy.Branches more or less upright, smooth, and even. Twigs sometimes clothed with a short down.
Bole more or less towering upwards, its divisions having the same tendency. Arms more like those of the beech.Bole shorter, branching at a moderate elevation into large spreading arms, more like those of the oak.
Roots throwing up suckers often at a great distance from the tree.Roots not stoloniferous.

1. Ulmus campestris.—The English Elm, though not the producer of the most valuable timber, or of a kind for more refined purposes, is still one of the most extensively useful of any kind whatsoever. The long straight balks of this Elm caused it at one time to be employed for water-pipes; these can be readily cut into boards of great length and width, which are useful for a variety of purposes. Selby sums up an account of its character as follows:—

The wood when matured is of a deep-brown colour, compact and fine-grained; according to Loudon, it loses nearly two-thirds of its weight in drying, as when cut it weighs nearly seventy pounds the cubic foot, and when seasoned not more than twenty-eight pounds and a half. In the lateral adhesion of its fibre it surpasses the U. montana, though perhaps inferior to it in longitudinal toughness, and therefore not capable of supporting so severe a cross strain. The former property, however, eminently qualifies it for every purpose where a strong wood that will not split or crack, either from concussion or the action of sun and wet, is required; on this account, Matthew, in his able treatise on naval timber, strongly recommends it for the “blocks, dead-eyes, and other wooden furniture of rigging.” In country carpentry it is very extensively used in all the Southern parts of England; but the purposes to which it is applied it is unnecessary to enumerate, these having already been described by Evelyn and subsequent authors. Its durability under water, as well as the straightness and great length of its stem, qualifies it for making the keels of large ships, for which purpose it sells at a very high price.

As an ornamental tree for general purposes, few can surpass the elm, as when well-grown and not too much interfered with by the forester, it has a gracefully aspiring form without a disposition to lankiness: its foliage is thick enough to afford any amount of shade, and yet is never of a heavy appearance.

It flourishes best in good deep soil, in which the most solid balks are grown: when planted on poor land or on gravel-beds it decays at the heart at a very early age. Some of the English elms in Hyde Park have thus decayed, whilst others have attained a respectable size and age, having been injured by storms:—

The wintry winds had passed
And swept an arm away,
And winter found a wound at last,
In which to work decay.

In good soil the English elm grows to an enormous size, remaining perfectly solid to a good old age. We remember the felling of a tree called “Piff’s Elm,” on the high-road between Cheltenham and Tewkesbury, in which the hole measured 28 feet in circumference at 4 feet from the ground, and we counted 198 rings of annual growth. Still, when grown in poor gravelly soils and in the usual hedge mode, in which they are periodically shrouded and crippled, they often begin to decay in the centre at less than twenty years of age.

There are varieties of the U. campestris, which, as they are not of any particular importance as timber trees, need only be lightly touched upon in this place. They are as follows:—

1. Ulmus suberosa—Cork Elm, bark of the limbs exceedingly corky.
2. Ulmus carpinifolia—Hornbeam-leaved Elm, leaves strongly-veined, serratures blunt; branches nearly smooth.
3. Ulmus stricta—Cornish Elm, leaves smooth and shining above, doubly serrated, with obtuse teeth; branches bright-brown, smooth, erect.
4. Ulmus glabra—Small-leaved Elm, leaves small and smooth; branches pendulous.

2. Ulmus montana.—The Scotch Elm, the broad-leaved elm (wych hazel) of most parts of England and Scotland, is well distinguished by its large broad leaves, hop-like fruits, large limbs diverging from a less towering trunk at an obtuse angle, branches more or less lax and pendulous, bark of the twigs dark brown, smooth and not corky; of stem when rough, not suberose.

This tree is reputed wild, but there seems reason to think that this form, and certainly the U. campestris, has been introduced. One reason for this conclusion is that although the U. montana produces such an enormous amount of seed, yet, in as far as we know, none of this produces young trees, or, in other words, this elm does not appear to increase sporadically. Even in cultivation it is found to be exceedingly difficult to replenish our nursery stock from seed, and hence the cost of young plants, as they have to be produced from suckers, or otherwise layered, and occasionally grown from cuttings. Evelyn says:—

It seems to be so much more addicted to some places than to others, that I have frequently doubted whether it be a pure indigene or translatitious; and not only because I have hardly ever known any considerable woods of them (besides some few nurseries near Cambridge, planted, I suppose, for store), but most continually in tufts, hedge-rows, and mounds; and that Shropshire, and several other counties, have rarely any growing in many miles together.—Sylva, vol. i. p. 127.

To this may be added the fact that the most notable elm trees will usually be found at cross-roads—as Maul’s Elm at Cheltenham, nearly 40 feet in circumference, or about dwellings; the fine old trunk at the Slade Farm, near Stroud, Gloucestershire, as much as 50 feet, for some time hollow, and once used as a cider-mill; the fine elms in our parks, as at Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, and others; and such avenues of elms as seen at Christchurch.

As a timber tree the Scotch elm is not esteemed so highly as is the English sort. To begin with, it does not grow such straight even balks; it is more gnarled and knotty in sawing, and more difficult to work. Selby says that Scottish writers have arrived at a different conclusion, which he conceives to have arisen from the fact that “their estimate has been drawn from a comparison of the wood of U. montana with that of U. suberosa (considered by them to be the English elm), which produces a soft, spongy wood, greatly inferior to most other trees of the genus.”

It is used for flooring and rough country work. The peculiar wen-like excrescences that one sometimes meets with on the sides of wych elms are carefully preserved and cut into veneers for fine loo-tables, work-boxes, and other purposes, when a peculiar mottled fine-coloured wood is required for fancy-work.

Some of the finest elms we have examined have been Maul’s elm, Piff’s elm, the Slade elm, before mentioned, and the following, measured at one and three feet from the ground.

Circum. at
1 foot.		Circum. at
3 feet.
Ulmus montana,Oakley Park, Cirencester380336
Ditto,Hyde Park—206
Ditto,Hyde Park—200
Ditto,group of twelve in Kensington Gardens, varying to—200
Ulmus campestris,Hyde Park, several varying from 20 ft. to—300
Ditto,in Oakley Park, from 15 ft. to—220