The Scotch elm, according to Gerard, had various uses in ancient times. Its wood was made into bows, and its bark, which is so tough that it will strip or peel off from the wood from one end of a bough to the other without breaking, was made into ropes. Its wood was not considered so good for naves as that of the English elm, though in Scotland it is used by ship-builders, the block and pump maker, the cartwright and cabinet maker. Loudon says in his “Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum”: “In many parts of the country, the wych elm, or witch-hazel, as it is still occasionally called, is considered a preservative against witches; probably from the coincidence, between the words ‘wych’ and ‘witch.’ In some of the midland counties, even to the present day, a little cavity is made in the churn to receive a small portion of witch-hazel, without which the dairymaids imagine that they would not be able to get the butter to come.” The specific name, _montana_, from the Latin word meaning living on mountains, was given to this tree because it is found growing, not only in the plains and valleys, like _Ulmus campestris_, but also in the remote highlands where it finds a foothold and flourishes on the steep slopes of the mountains. [Sidenote: Hackberry, Sugarberry, Nettle Tree _Celtis occidentalis_] _A small tree, 20 to 50 feet high, with slender, wide-spreading branches. The terminal buds are lacking, the lateral ones are flattened and pointed and somewhat hairy. The twigs are dark grayish brown with white chambered pith inside the stems. The leaf-scars are semi-oval with three bundle-scars and alternate in arrangement. The fruit is reddish, turning dark purple; it is round and berry-like and about the size of a currant._ [Sidenote: HACKBERRY _Celtis occidentalis_ Page 112 ] The hackberry grows wild in Massachusetts, but it is found rarely and is generally mistaken for an elm. It grows commonly in lowland woods in Western New York and the Middle States, and it can be identified both in winter and summer by the white chambered pith, which is found by cutting a stem of recent growth. The dried fruit, which hangs on the stems through the winter, is also another means of recognizing the tree,—this berry-like fruit can be seen in the photograph which I took as late in the deciduous season as April thirteenth. It is a round-headed tree with a short trunk and usually a broad spread of branches, but in the basin of the Ohio River it grows to be a tall and stately tree. The wood is heavy and coarsely grained, and is used for fences and for making cheap furniture. The generic name, _Celtis_, is the ancient Greek name for the lotus berry; and the specific name, _occidentalis_ (belonging to the west), designates its American origin. CHAPTER IX THE BUTTONWOOD, THE TUPELO, AND THE MULBERRIES [Illustration: The Buttonwood, showing the hollow base of the leafstalk which covers the bud until the leaf falls.] Chapter IX