Part 21

Ulmus pubescens]

A medium-sized tree, 45 to 60 feet high. The twigs are gray and bristled, unlike the smooth twigs of the white elm. Alternate leaf-scars, which are more conspicuous than those of the white elm. The buds are larger and rounder than those of the white elm; they are soft and downy, and are covered with reddish brown hairs. The inner bark is very mucilaginous.

Country boys know the slippery elm for its sweet mucilage, just as they know the shagbark for its nuts, the sassafras for its aromatic roots, and the spruce for its gum; and this mucilaginous characteristic is a certain means of determining the tree.

In form it is less drooping than the white elm and it is also much smaller. The hairy buds give the whole tree a reddish color in spring, and from this it probably takes the name of red elm; the slippery elm is a more characteristic name however, as few trees have such a slippery inner bark. These hairy brown buds are among the prettiest to be found on any trees in winter. Compared with the smooth, hard buds on many trees, they are what soft, long-haired Angoras are to ordinary cats.

The wood is strong, hard, and close-grained and is used for making posts, railroad ties, and agricultural implements. The inner bark is used for inflammatory diseases and externally for poultices.

The specific name, pubescens (down or soft hair), refers to the pubescence on the buds and leaves and along the recent shoots.

Ulmus racemosa

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The slippery elm is found in certain localities throughout the Atlantic States, it is not common in Eastern Massachusetts.

Ulmus racemosa]

A large tree, 80 to 100 feet high, known by the peculiar corky ridges along the branches. Alternate leaf-scars. The recent twigs and the scales of the bud are fringed with downy hair.

In New England the cork elm is found in the northwestern part of New Hampshire and in Southern Vermont. It is rare in Massachusetts, and would probably be found only in the western part of the State growing wild. Neither Michaux nor Emerson has described the cork elm. Nuttall says that it was discovered in the State of New York by a Mr. Thomas, and he gives the tree the name “Thomas’s elm,” which has fortunately not been retained.

The wood is tougher and of somewhat finer grain than that of the white elm, and in the “Silva of North America,” Professor Sargent says: “The value of the wood of the rock elm threatens its extinction; and most of the large trees have already been cut in the forests of Canada, New England, New York, and Michigan. The rock elm is sometimes planted as a shade tree in the region which it inhabits naturally, and although it grows rather more slowly than the white elm, it is a handsome and distinct ornamental tree which planters have too generally neglected.”

The specific name, racemosa (cluster-flowered), refers to the flowers which grow in a raceme.

It is found in New England, its range extending southward and westward.

Ulmus campestris]

A tall tree, more upright in growth than the American elm. The branches are less spreading and more erect than those of the American species. In this climate it is often distinguished by the little tufts of dead twigs on the tree. The bark is darker and coarser than that of the American elm; the buds and twigs differ very little from those of our species.

Ulmus campestris

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The English elm is found planted frequently throughout New England, and there are many fine specimens in Massachusetts, especially in the country about Boston. According to Emerson, they were originally said to be imported and planted by a wheelwright for his own use in making the hubs of wheels, for which purpose the wood of the English elm is superior to any other. At all events, there are many beautiful specimens growing near old colonial houses, and sometimes they are found growing by stone walls at some distance from the house, back of farm buildings and barns, as was the group from which I took the following photograph.

The American elm is more graceful than the English elm, which, on the other hand, is more stately; both trees are unusually beautiful, although representing such different types of beauty. In the “Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table,” Dr. Holmes contrasts the English and American elms growing on Boston Common. “Go out with me into that walk which we call the Mall,” he says, “and look at the English and American elms. The American elm is tall, graceful, slender-sprayed, and drooping as if from languor. The English elm is compact, robust, holds its branches up, and carries its leaves for weeks longer than our own native tree. Is this typical of the creative force on the two sides of the ocean or not?”

In England the elm has been planted from the time of the Romans, though Dr. Walker thinks that it was brought over at the time of the Crusades. The elm was planted by the Romans as a prop for grape vines, and in the South of Italy it is still used for that purpose. In “Paradise Lost” Milton refers to this when he describes how Adam and Eve spent their time in the Garden of Eden. Among various other occupations,

“They led the vine To wed her elm; she spoused about him twines Her marriageable arms; and with her brings Her dower, the adopted clusters to adorn His barren leaves.”

Columella tells us that vineyards with elm trees as props were named arbusta, the vines themselves being called arbustivæ vitæ, 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; this was considered of great importance, and we have a better understanding of Virgil’s reproach to Corydon, who neglected both his elms and vines, when we realize this:—

“Semiputate tibi frondosa vitis in ulmo est.” (Your vine half pruned upon the leafy elm.)

In Ovid, Vertumnus alludes to the mutual dependence of the elm and the vine when he assures Pomona of the advantages of a happy marriage:—

“‘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, ’T would creep a poor neglected shrub, below.’”

The specific name, campestris, comes from the Latin word meaning belonging to a plain or field.