THE AMERICAN ELM.

Concerning "What Trees shall we Plant,"
for timber as well as ornament, a recent letter from Rockford highly recommends the
Ulmus Americana. We do not doubt his
statement in reference to its worth, especially as it corresponds with that of Dr. Lapham in his report on the Forest Trees of
Wisconsin, He says: "The wood is tough,
close grained, and much valued by carriage
makers and others for bending into carriage
and wagon bows, and into plow handles and
other purposes." As an ornamental tree we
never heard its merits disputed. By many
it is styled the finest native ornamental tree
which our forests afford. It is the queen of
the forest. Tt claims this high rank for its
rapid growth, its hardy nature adapting it
alike to high land or low, rich or poor, loam
or clay. It has beautiful leaves, a large majestic trunk, with graceful drooping branches.
In most places it has but few enemies; by far
the worst of which is the ax of the woodman.

Having lived in Southern Michigan and in
Central New York, our experience as to the
value of this tree for timber more nearly accords with that of Michaux. That it is a
second-rate material for wagon hubs; its
bark, when peeled and soaked in water and
pounded, is used, to a limited extent, for the
bottoms of common chairs. To these uses
our personal observation enables us to add
one more. The large trunk and limbs are
likely to become hollow and make excellent
dwellings for raccoons and hedgehogs.
Many is the elm we have been induced to
help cut down because, in the snow or mud,
more coon tracks were seen to point towards
the tree than from it.

In clearing off heavy timber from the forests nearly every kind of tree can be used to
some purpose. The elm, was the last to be
utilized. It was cut in pieces; two spongy,
soggy logs were rolled side by side, and another on top; a few "chinkings " added, and
a fire applied would cause them to steam,
and fry, and hiss, and slowly burn for a
week. Large trunks are rarely worked into
fire wood, because they are hard to split and
make an inferior fire even when seasoned.
They are worthless for fence rails or posts
on account of rapid decay. We have seen a
few attempts to use them for fence boards.
Two nails to each post will not keep a board
in place. It warps and twists the fence out
of line, tips the posts so the boards become
too short to reach. Every fifth or sixth
length will have a gape where the boards
have shrunken and torn loose. The effort to
make them into planks for bridges, and
sluice-ways and stable floors, succeeds no
better. They bend and stick up like snake
heads with every sunny day. This would especially be an objection on the prairies, as
big stones cannot be found to place on the
ends to hold them down.

We have seen poor barrels made of staves
cut from this elm. Where it turns up by the
roots and falls across streams, it is useful as a
foot bridge; but if it falls across the fence
into the field, it makes a bridge for sheep to
get out of the pasture or into the meadow.

An overgrown patriarch on the low lands
is now and then left after the other trees
have been removed. This dies of exposure
in a few years, scattering its limbs and bark
over the corn and grass which are cultivated
about its base. For some years, however, it
stands the storms and serves to conduct the
surplus charges of lightning safely to the
ground. Sundry small game find it a handy
place of refuge when too closely pursued by
dogs or hunters. Here the squirrels can
hide away during the heat of the day and
save themselves long, perilous marches to
the distant woods.

Our experience has been mostly confined
to large trees grown in dense forests, on low,
wet land. We know the timber is more valuable, like that of Ulmus racemosa (rock-elm,)
when it grows in more exposed localities
and on dry ground, but even here we hardly
think it ranks as a first class tree for useful
timber.

W. J. B.