It is a southern word which is applied to this elm, and also to other trees, and occasionally it means a fish instead of a tree. Some would trace it to the cry of an owl, others to a name in Gulliver’s Travels, with a slight change in spelling. Wing elm at its best is about fifty feet high and two in diameter; but much of the stand is small. The best occurs west of the Mississippi river. The range extends from Texas to Virginia, south to Florida, and north to Illinois. In Texas it is a fairly important wood in furniture factories, the annual supply being about a million feet. It is used by turners for table legs. In an investigation of the uses of the wood, the same difficulty is encountered that makes difficult a study of the uses of all the elms--conflict and uncertainty of names. There are few regions in the hardwood areas of this country which produce one elm and no more; and after all practical means of identification are resorted to, there is often doubt and uncertainty concerning the exact species of elm lumber found in use. Fortunately, it generally makes little difference, because anyone of them is good enough for ordinary use. Wing elm is extensively planted for shade along the streets of towns in the lower Mississippi valley, but more frequently on the west side of the valley. When the trees grow in the open they develop broad crowns, and the branches, even of comparatively small trees, are long enough to reach well over the sidewalks, and cast satisfactory shade. The dark-colored winged twigs add much to the ornamental value of the street trees. FREMONTIA (_Fremontodendron californicum_) is not botanically in the elm family, but it is popularly known as slippery elm in the region where it occurs, and for that reason it is here given place among the elms. It is known also as leatherwood. It is a California species, ranging among the lower mountains and higher foothills in dry, gravelly soils, from the Mexican boundary five hundred miles northward in the state. The mucilaginous inner bark tastes like that of the true slippery elm. The shape of the leaf much more resembles sycamore than elm; and it is an evergreen. It bears a bright yellow, roselike flower, and the seeds are small, reddish-brown. The wood is fine grained, clear reddish-brown, with thick, whitish sapwood. It is very soft. The tree attains its largest size among the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, but even there it is too small to have much economic value, seldom exceeding thirty feet in height and a foot in diameter. Its most important use is as a forage plant for cattle and sheep. In that particular it resembles slippery elm in northern woods. The tree is occasionally planted in the eastern states and in Europe for ornament. In its native range it grows slowly. [Illustration]