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. [Illustration: SCOTCH ELM _Ulmus montana_ Page 111 ] [Sidenote: Scotch, Dutch, or Wych Elm _Ulmus montana_] _A medium-sized tree, 50 to 60 feet high. The bark is smooth and green. The branches are spreading and somewhat drooping. The buds are not downy like those of the slippery elm._ The Scotch elm, like the English elm, is extensively cultivated in the parks and gardens about Boston, and it is frequently planted along roadsides. It is less upright and tall than the English elm, its average height being about forty feet, and it has a more spreading head.