Woodland Gleanings Part 6

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ELM-TREE.]

THE ELM-TREE.

[_Ulmus_[E] Nat. Ord.--_Ulmaceae_; Linn.--_Pentand. Digy._]

[E] _Generic characters of the Ulmi._ Calyx campanulate, inferior, 4 to 5-cleft, persistent. Corolla none. Fruit a membranous, compressed, winged capsule (a _samara_), 1-seeded.

There stood the Elme, whose shade, so mildly dim, Doth nourish all that groweth under him.

W. Browne.

The Common Elm (_U. campestris_), after having a.s.sumed the dignity and h.o.a.ry roughness of age, is not excelled in grandeur and beauty by any of its brethren. In this latter stage, it partakes so much of the character of the oak, that it is easily mistaken for it; though the oak--such an oak as is strongly marked with its peculiar character--can never be mistaken for the Elm. "This defect, however," says Gilpin, "appears chiefly in the skeleton of the Elm. In full foliage, its character is better marked. No tree is better adapted to receive grand ma.s.ses of light. In this respect, it is superior both to the oak and the ash. Nor is its foliage, shadowing as it is, of the heavy kind. Its leaves are small, and this gives it a natural lightness; it commonly hangs loosely, and is in general very picturesque."

The Elm is not frequently met with in woods or forests, but is more commonly planted in avenues or other artificial situations. Cowper very accurately sketches the variety of form in the Elm, and alludes to the different sites where they are to be found. In the _Task_, he first introduces them rearing their lofty heads by the river's brink:

--There, fast rooted in his bank, Stand, never overlooked, our favourite Elms, That screen the herdsman's solitary hut.

Then he gives us an enchanting scene, where a lowly cot is surrounded by them:

'Tis perched upon the green hill-top, but close Environed with a ring of branching Elms, That overhang the thatch.

He then introduces us to a grove of Elms:

--The grove receives us next; Between the upright shafts of whose tall Elms We may discern the thrasher at his task.

The Elm is frequently referred to by the poets. Wordsworth thus speaks of a grove of them:

Upon that open level stood a grove, The wished-for port to which my course was bound.

Thither I came, and there, amid the gloom Spread by a brotherhood of lofty Elms, Appeared a roofless hut.

In _The Church Yard among the Mountains_, he introduces one that seems to be the pride of the village:

--A wide-spread Elm Stands in our valley, named the JOYFUL TREE; From dateless usage which our peasants hold Of giving welcome to the first of May, By dances round its trunk.

And again:

--The Joyful Elm, Around whose trunk the maidens dance in May.

Dr. Hunter supposes that the Elm is a native of England. Philips, however, does not agree with this; but, admitting that the tree was known in England as early as the Saxon times, observes, that this does not prove the Elm to be indigenous to the soil, confuted as it is by Nature, which rarely allows it to propagate its species in this country according to her common rules; while in other countries, where the seed falls, young plants spring up as commonly as the oaks in Britain.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Specific characters of U. campestris._ Leaves rhomboid-ovate, ac.u.minate, wedge-shaped, and oblique at the base, always scabrous above, doubly and irregularly serrated, downy beneath; serratures incurved. Branches wiry, slightly corky; when young, bright-brown, p.u.b.escent. Fruit oblong, deeply cloven, naked.]

In favourable situations, the common Elm becomes a large timber-tree, of considerable beauty and utility, naturally growing upright. It is the first tree to put forth its light and cheerful green in spring, a tint which contrasts agreeably with the foliage of the oak, whose leaf has generally, in its early state, more of an olive cast. We see them often in fine harmony together about the end of April and the beginning of May. The Elm is also frequently found planted with the Scotch fir. In spring, its light green is very discordant with the gloomy hue of its companion; but as the year advances, the Elm leaf takes a darker tint, and unites in harmony with the fir. In autumn also, the yellow leaf of the Elm mixes as kindly with the orange of the beech, the ochre of the oak, and many of the other fading hues of the wood.

The Elm was considered by the ancients of Eastern nations as a funereal tree, as well as the cypress. It is celebrated in the _Iliad_, for having formed a hasty bridge, by which Achilles escaped the Xanthus, when that river, by its overflowing, placed him in danger of being carried away. It has been suggested that the Romans probably introduced it, and planted it on the graves of their departed heroes. It was well-known among the Latins. Virgil says, that the husbandmen bent the young Elm, whilst growing, into the proper shape, for their _buris_ or plough-tail:

Young Elms with early force in copses bow, Fit for the figure of the crooked plough.

Dryden.

The Romans esteemed the Elm to be the natural support and friend of the vine; and the feeling that a strong sympathy subsisted between plants, led them never to plant one without the other. The gravest of Latin authors speak of the Elm as husband of the vine; and Pliny tells us, that that Elm is a poor spouse that does not support three vines. This mode of marrying the vine to the Elm gave rise to the elegant insinuation of Vertumnus to Pomona, whose story may be found in Ovid:

"If that fair Elm," he cried, "alone should stand, No grapes would glow with gold, and tempt the hand: Or, if that vine without her Elm should grow, 'Twould creep a poor neglected shrub below."

This union of the vine and the Elm is constantly alluded to by the poets. Ta.s.so, as translated by Fairfax, says,

The married Elm fell with his fruitful vine.

The lofty Elm with creeping vines o'erspread.

Ovid.

Milton, narrating the occupations of Adam and Eve before the fall, sings,

--They led the vine To wed her Elm; she, spoused, about him twines Her marriageable arms, and with her brings Her dower, the adopted cl.u.s.ters, to adorn His barren leaves.

And Beaumont says,

--The amorous vine Did with the fair and straight-limbed Elm entwine.

And Wordsworth, in that beautiful reflection, the _Pillar of Trajan_, speaks of it:

So, pleased with purple cl.u.s.ters to entwine Some lofty Elm-tree, mounts the daring vine.

There is a beautiful group of Elms at Mongewell, Oxon, which are in full vigour. The princ.i.p.al one is seventy-nine feet high, fourteen feet in girth at three feet from the ground, sixty-five in extent of boughs, and contains two hundred and fifty-six feet of solid timber. Strutt informs us, that, in 1830, Dr. Barrington, the venerable Bishop of Durham, when in his ninetieth year, erected an urn in the midst of their shade, to the memory of two of his friends; inscribing thereon the following cla.s.sical fragment:

In this once-favoured walk, beneath these Elms, Where thickened foliage, to the solar ray Impervious, sheds a venerable gloom, Oft in instructive converse we beguiled The fervid time, which each returning year To friendship's call devoted. Such things were; But are, alas! no more.

The Chipstead Elm, in Kent, which is an English tree, is a fine specimen; and is of an immense size. It is beautiful as to form, and its trunk is richly mantled with ivy. In Henry V.'s time, the high road from Rye to London pa.s.sed close by it, and a fair was held annually under its branches.

At Sprotborough, Yorkshire, stands what is justly regarded as the pride of the grounds--a magnificent English Elm. This n.o.ble tree is about fifteen feet in circ.u.mference in the bole, and still thicker at the height of four feet from the ground, where it divides into five enormous boughs, each of the size of a large tree, and gracefully descending to the ground; the whole forming a splendid ma.s.s of foliage, having a diameter of about forty yards from bough to bough end.

The Elm is generally raised by means of suckers, rarely from seeds. It delights in a rich, loamy soil, thriving best in an open situation, and bears transplantation well. It may also be planted in good pasture grounds, as it does not injure the gra.s.s beneath; and its leaves are agreeable to cattle, which in some countries are chiefly supported by them. They will eat them before oats, and thrive well upon them. Evelyn says, that in Herefordshire the inhabitants gathered them in sacks for their swine and other cattle.

Fruitful in leaves the Elm.

So prolific is this tree in leaves, that it affords a constant shade during the summer months, and for this reason it has been planted in most of the public and royal gardens in Europe. It is also of quick growth, as it will yield a load of timber in little more than forty years: it does not, however, cease growing--if planted in a favourable situation--neither too dry nor too moist--till it is one hundred or one hundred and fifty years old; and it will live several centuries.

The wood of the Elm is hard and tough, and is greatly esteemed for pipes that are constantly under ground. In London, before iron pipes were used, the consumption of this timber for water-pipes was enormous. It is also valuable for keels, and planking beneath the water-line of ships, and for mill-wheels and water-works. When long bows were in fashion it was used in their manufacture, and the Statutes recommend it for that purpose.

Besides _U. campestris_ there are six other varieties which have been long naturalized in this country, the botanical descriptions of which are:--

2. _U. suberosa_. Ebr. Leaves nearly orbicular, acute, obliquely cordate at the base, sharply, regularly, and doubly serrate; always scabrous above, p.u.b.escent below, chiefly hairy in the axillae.

Branches spreading, bright-brown, winged with corky excrescences; when young, very hairy. Fruit nearly round, deeply cloven, naked.