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 Leaves larger, divided into
the margin, with an alternation segments at the margin, which
of larger and smaller teeth segments are notched with fine
(alternately serrate). serrated teeth.
Fruit small and flat, with a deep Fruit large and flat, with a slight
notch at the apex; bunches notch at the apex; bunches large
somewhat small and inconspicuous. and having the general
appearance of bunches of hops.
Branches more or less spreading, Branches more or less upright,
inclining to be rough or even corky smooth, and even. Twigs sometimes
(_suberose_). Twigs more or less clothed with a short down.
hairy.
Bole more or less towering upwards, Bole shorter, branching at a
its divisions having the same moderate elevation into large
tendency. Arms more like those of spreading arms, more like those of
the beech. the oak.
Roots throwing up suckers often at Roots not stoloniferous.
a great distance from the tree.
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 Circum. at
1 foot. 3 feet.
_Ulmus montana_, Oakley Park, Cirencester 38 0 33 6
Ditto, Hyde Park — 20 6
Ditto, Hyde Park — 20 0
Ditto, group of twelve in Kensington
Gardens, varying to — 20 0
_Ulmus campestris_, Hyde Park, several varying
from 20 ft. to — 30 0
Ditto, in Oakley Park, from
15 ft. to — 22 0