given out from Norwich, Bristol, and other places, under the name of the Chichester elm; but you may rely on my word that the Chichester elm and the Huntingdon elm are one and the same thing. The tree is the fastest grower, and produces the best timber of all the elms. I have lately cut down some trees, planted about forty years ago, and have used the planks in various ways in house-building.""*" 37. U. C. MONTANA GLABRA MAJOR. Larger Smooth-leaved Mountain Field Elm; Ulmus m. glabra major, of Loudon; a Canterbury seedling, of more vigorous growth than the Ulmus c. montana glabra, and, indeed, is a rival of the Huntingdon elm, in quickness of growth. It resembles the latter in its bark; but is more spreading in its branches; and preserves its foliage long after that of the Ulmus c. montana glabra. 38. U. C. MONTANA GLABRA GLANDULOSA. Glandulous-leaved Smooth-leaved Mountain Field Elm; Ulmus m. glabra glandulosa, of Loudon, with leaves very glandular beneath. 39. U. c. MONTANA GLABRA LATIFOLIA. Broad-leaved Smooth-leaved Mountain Field Elm; Ulmus m. glabra latifolia, of Loudon, with leaves oblong, acute, and very broad. 40. U. C. MONTANA GLABRA MICROPHYLLA. Small-leaved Smooth-leaved Mountain Field Elm; Ulmus m. glabra microphylla, of Loudon. "On 41. U. C. MONTANA GLABRA PENDULA. Pendulous-branched Smooth-leaved Mountain Field Elm; Ulmus m. glabra pendula, of Loudon; Downton Elm, of the English; a tree raised in 1810, in Smith's nursery, at Worcester, from seeds obtained from a tree in Nottinghamshire. Mr. Knight, of Downton Castle, purchased some trees from this nursery; and one of them turned out to be that weeping variety, which has since obtained the name of the "Downton Elm." writing to Mr. Smith," observes Loudon, "to endeavour to get some information respecting the trees that produced the seed, he informs us in answer, that, after making every inquiry in Nottinghamshire, respecting these trees, he finds, 'they were a mixture of wych and English; probably they were all planted as English; but being grafted trees, and being planted by the side of a public road, they might have been broken off at the graft, when young. At any rate, the plants produced from the seeds were a complete mixture of the English and wych elms, both by their leaves and their manner of growth. The original trees in Nottinghamshire have been long since cut down, and the ground built upon. The plants which I raised, not meeting with a ready sale, I grafted them with the common English elm, which is more in demand in this neighbourhood.' Mr. Knight observes that the Downton elm is more remarkable for the singularity of its form and growth, than for its value as a timber tree.' 6 42. U. C. MONTANA GLABRA VARIEGATA. Variegated-leaved Smooth-leaved Mountain Field Elm; Ulmus m. glabra variegata, of Loudon, with variegated leaves. Geography and History. The Ulmus campestris is a native of the middle and south of Europe, the west of Asia, and of Barbary. In France and Spain, it is found in great abundance; and many botanists consider it as a native of England; but as this tree seldom ripens its seeds in Britain, though it does so freely, in the neighbourhood of Paris, it can hardly be considered as truly indigenous to that island. According to Sir J. E. Smith, it is found wild in woods and hedges in the southern parts of England, particularly in the New Forest, in Hampshire, and in Sussex and Norfolk. This tree was known to the ancient Greeks, as it appears evident from Pliny mentioning that they had two distinct kinds of elm, one inhabiting the mountains, and the other the plains. The Romans, he adds, had four kinds; the "moun tain," or "tall elm," (Ulmus atinia,) which corresponds to the Ulmus campestris; the "Gaulic elm;" the "elm of Italy," which had its leaves in tufts; and the "wild elm." In Britain, the elm has been planted from time immemorial, or, at least, from the era of the possession of that island by the Romans; probably, having been brought over, as was conjectured by Dr. Walker, during the Crusades. The oldest trees on record are, perhaps, a beautiful group at Mongewell, in Oxfordshire, which were celebrated in the time of Leland, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The largest of these trees, according to Mr. Loudon, is seventy-nine feet high, fourteen feet in circumference at three feet above the ground, with a head sixty-five feet in diameter. There are, doubtless, much older trees in England; for the elm, being of much less national importance than the oak, has never possessed the same attractions for antiquaries. Evelyn, to prove that the elm attains a "prodigious growth in less than a person's age," mentions a tree, which he had seen "planted by the hand of a countess, living not long since, which was near twelve feet compass, and of a height proportionable." ** * "Mine own hands," he adds, "measured a table more than once, of about five feet in breadth, nine and a half feet in length, and six inches thick, all entire and clear. This, cut out of a tree felled by my father's order, was made a pastry board. ** The incomparable walks at the royal palaces, in the neighbourhood of Madrid, were planted with this majestic tree." These elms are said to have been the first that were planted in Spain; and Baron Dillon tells us that, when he saw them, about the end of the last century, they were six feet in diameter, and in a healthy state. Several of these trees were still in existence, as lately as 1833. The plants were taken from Britain, by Philip II., who had married Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII., and queen of England. In Scotland, the English elm was hardly known before the union of the two kingdoms. Dr. Walker mentions it, in 1780, as being nowhere found in that country of a large size; but, as promising to afford a much greater quantity of wood than the Scotch elm, in the same space of time. He particularizes a tree planted in 1771, which, in 1799, was thirty-five feet high. In Ireland, the English, or narrow-leaved elm, is said, in Mackay's "Flora Hibernica," to be abundant, but scarcely indigenous. Among the recorded trees of this species, in Britain, perhaps there are none more remarkable than the "Crawley Elm," which has been figured by Strutt, in his "Sylva Britannica, as well as by Loudon, in his "Arboretum Britannicum,' and stands on the high road from London to Brighton. According to the lastnamed gentleman, it is seventy feet high, with a trunk, which is hollow, sixtyone feet in circumference on the exterior, at the ground, and thirty-five feet round the inside, at two feet from the base. There is a regular door to the cavity of this tree, the key of which is kept by the lord of the manor; but it is opened on particular occasions, when the neighbours meet to regale themselves in its interior, where there is a room, with a floor paved with bricks, sufficiently capacious to contain a party of twelve or more persons. Madame de Genlis says, a poor woman gave birth to an infant in the hollow of this tree, where she afterwards resided for a long time. At Coombe Abbey, in Warwickshire, there is an Ulmus campestris one hundred and fifty feet high, with a trunk nine and a half feet in diameter, and an ambitus or spread of branches of seventy-four feet. It is estimated to be over two hundred years of age. The principal public avenues of elms, in England, are in St. James' Park, and at Cambridge and Oxford; and there are also some very fine ones on private gentlemen's seats, especially at White Knights, near Reading, at Littlecote Hall, and at Strathfieldsaye. One of the largest trees of this species in Scotland, is at Wemyss Castle, in Fifeshire, which is ninety feet high, with a trunk nine feet and .hree inches in diameter, and an ambitus of fifty-one feet. In Ireland, the dimensions of several elms are recorded by Hayes, though the species is not named, it is presumed that some of them belong to the Ulmus campestris. Near Arklow, at Shelton, an elm had a trunk five feet and four inches in diameter at the surface of the ground. In the county of Kildare, there stood an elm, which, till the year 1762, was, perhaps, the finest tree of the species in the world. The diameter of the head, taken from the extremities of the lower branches, exceeded thirty-four yards; but in the end of that year the two principal arms fell from the trunk one night, apparently from their own weight, as the weather was perfectly calm. The timber contained in these branches sold for five guineas. In this situation the tree continued till the winter of 1776, when a violent storm tore up the whole by the roots, with a great mass of soil and rock adhering to them. Some time previous to this, the trunk had been carefully measured, and was found to be thirty-eight and a half feet in circumference. It had been hollow for many years; and the value of its timber by no means answered what might have been expected, from the sale of the two branches in 1762. There is said to be no certain record as to the age of this tree; but popular tradition supposes it to have been planted by the monks of St. Wolstan, some time before the dissolution of that monastery, which happened in the year 1538. In Kilkenny, at Mount Juliet, there is an Ulmus campestris one hundred and two feet in height, with a trunk four feet and two inches in diameter, and an ambitus of thirty-two feet. An elm, at Carton, the seat of the Duke of Leinster, is fourteen feet and eight inches in circumference near the base, diminishing like the shaft of a Doric column, and being thirteen feet in girth, at sixteen feet from the ground. The most remarkable Ulmus c. montana on record, as growing in England, is mentioned by Cook, in his treatise on "Forest and Fruit Trees." It stood in Sir Walter Bagot's Park, in Staffordshire, and attained the height of one hundred and twenty feet, with a trunk seventeen feet in diameter at the surface of the ground. It required two men five days to fell it, and it contained forty-eight loads of wood in the head; and yielded eight pairs of naves; eight thousand six hundred and sixty feet of boards and planks; and the whole tree was estimated to weigh ninety-seven tons. One of the largest and most beautiful specimens of the Ulmus c. montana, in Scotland, is growing at Kinfauns Castle, in Perthshire, and is figured by Mr. Loudon, in his "Arboretum Britannicum." He represents it to be seventy feet high, with a trunk six feet and a half in diameter, and an ambitus of sixty feet. In Ireland, at Bawn, near Mansfield town, in the county of Louth, there is a remarkable Ulmus c. montana, which is considered to be upwards of one hundred and twenty years old. In 1839, it was seventy feet in height, with a trunk nine feet and eight inches in diameter at the base, five feet and four inches, at six feet above the ground, and with a head ninety feet in diameter. In France, the elm was scarcely known, as an ornamental tree, till the time of Francis I.; and it appears to have been first planted there to adorn public walks about the year 1540. It was afterwards planted largely, particularly in churchyards, by Sully, in the reign of Henry IV.; and, by the desire of that king, who, according to Evelyn, expressed a wish to have it planted in all the highways in France, it became the tree most generally adopted for promenades and hedgerows. Many old trees existed at the period of the first French revolution, which were called "Sully," or "Rosni," and "Henri Quatre;" names that had been given them apparently to commemorate their illustrious planters. Bosc states that he himself had seen some of these elms in Burgundy, with trunks from four to five feet in diameter, which, though hollow, yet supported heads capable of sheltering some thousands of men. It is said that Henry IV. planted an elm in the garden of the Luxembourg, at Paris, which stood until it was destroyed, in the revontion, last referred to. There are many fine avenues of elms existing in France, at the present day, particularly those in the Champs Elysées, and at Versailles. Among the largest existing trees of the Ulmus campestris in France, is one at Nantes, in the nursery of M. De Nerrières, which, in eighty years after planting, had attained the height of seventy feet, with a trunk six feet in diameter. In Italy, at Monza, there is an Ulmus campestris, which, in twenty-nine years after planting, had attained the height of seventy-five feet, with a trunk one foot and nine inches in diameter, and an ambitus of forty-five feet. In the same place there is also an Ulmus c. suberosa, of about the same age and dimensions. In Switzerland, near Morges, there stood an Ulmus campestris, which was blown down some years since, that had a trunk seventeen feet and seven inches in diameter, and was estimated to be three hundred and thirty-five years old. The precise date at which the Ulmus campestris was introduced into the United States is uncertain. There are many trees of this species, and of the Ulmus c. montana, growing within the environs of Boston, in Massachusetts, which, from their dimensions, must somewhat exceed one hundred years of age. The largest specimen of the species we have met with, is on the seat of Mr. Henry Codman, in Roxbury, which has attained the height of one hundred feet, with a trunk sixteen feet in circumference, at three feet above the ground. Among the eleven individuals which stand in Tremont street, in Boston, opposite the Granary Cemetery, there are several that measure nine feet in circumference, at about a yard above the pavement. On the authority of Mr. John Welles, these trees were planted by Major Adino Paddock, and John Ballard, in the year 1762. In the Park, at New York, near the north-westerly corner of the City Hall, there is a beautiful specimen of the Ulmus campestris, which has attained a height of about fifty feet, with a trunk two feet in diameter. Poetical, Mythological, and Legendary Allusions. The ancient poets frequently mention the elm, which, in common with many other trees bearing inesculent fruit, was devoted by them to the infernal gods. The Greeks and Romans considered all as funeral trees which produced no fruit fit for the use of man. Homer alludes to this, when he tells us, in the "Iliad," that Achilles raised a monument to the father of Andromache in the midst of a grove of elms,— "Jove's sylvan daughters bade their elms bestow A barren shade, and in his honour grow." And in more modern times, Strutt informs us, in his "Sylva Britannica," that the venerable Bishop of Durham, erected an urn in the midst of the grove of elms, at Monge well, in Oxfordshire, inscribing thereon, to the memory of two highly valued friends, the following classical fragment, "In this once-favoured walk, beneath these elms, Oft in instructive converse we beguiled The fervid time, which each returning year Where, he observes, "it was delightful for him to contemplate wandering, in his ninetieth year, amidst shades with which he was almost coeval, and which, in freshness and tranquillity, afforded most suitable emblems of his own green and venerable old age.' Ovid tells us that, when Orpheus returned to earth after his descent into the infernal regions, his lamentations for the loss of Eurydice were so pathetic, that the earth opened, and the elm and other trees sprang up to give him shade. Virgil, in his "Georgics," mentions that the Roman husbandmen bent the young elms, while growing, into the proper shape for the burys, or plough-tail, "Young Elms with early force in copses bow, Fit for the figure of the crooked plough." The elm was planted by the Romans for supporting the vine; and it is still so employed, along with the Lombardy poplar, in the south of Italy. Columella informs us that vineyards, with elm-trees as props were named "arbusta," the vines themselves being called "arbustivæ vitis," to distinguish them from others raised in more confined situations. Once in two years, the elms were carefully pruned, to prevent their leaves from overshadowing the grapes; and this operation being deemed of great importance, Corydon is reproached by Virgil, for the double neglect of suffering both his elms and vines to remain unpruned, "Simiputata tibi frondosa vitis in ulmo est." Your vine half-pruned upon the leafy elm. The use, however, which the Romans made of the elm, as a prop to the vine, has given rise to the most numerous allusions to this tree by the poets, not only ancient, but modern. Ovid makes Vertumnus allude to it, when he is recommending matrimony to Pomona, "If that fair elm,' he cried, 'alone should stand, No grapes would glow with gold, and tempt the hand; 'T would creep, a poor neglected shrub, below.'" Milton, in describing the occupations of Adam and Eve, in Paradise, says,— Wordsworth, also, speaks of it, in that beautiful reflection, the "Pillar of Trajan," "So, pleased with purple clusters to entwine - Cowper very accurately sketches the yariety of form in the elm, and alludes to the different sites where it is to be found. In the "Task," he first introduces this tree rearing its lofty head by the river's brink, "There, fast rooted in his bank, Stand, never overlooked, our favourite elms, Then he gives an enchanting scene, where a lowly cot is surrounded by these trees, "Tis perched upon the green hill-top, but close Environed with a ring of branching elms, That overhang the thatch." And he then introduces us to a grove of elms, "The grove receives us next; Between the upright shafts of whose tall elms |