Science and Practice in Farm Cultivation Part 32

[28] Many of the most ancient houses in London were built of its (chestnut) wood, as is the roof of Westminster Hall, built by William Rufus, in the year 1099, still free from any appearance of decay.-_Sylva Britannica_, p. 81.

But although we may safely dismiss the notion that chestnut is of the value formerly supposed, yet its timber is not without its uses; it is employed for smaller beams, gate-posts, piles, and other purposes where large timber is not required. Its best use is for poles, for which purpose chestnut may be employed as nurses to oak, thinning out the former as growth advances.

Dismissing, however, the subject of the economic value of the chestnut, whether for timber or fruit, as an ornamental tree it has few equals.

There are many fine chestnut-trees in our country, but perhaps the finest, as it is supposed to be the oldest, sylvan veteran in England is the one at Tortworth, in Gloucesters.h.i.+re, of which Strutt says:-

In the reign of Stephen, who ascended the throne in 1135, it was deemed so remarkable for its size, that, as appears upon record, it was well known as a signal boundary to the Manor of Tortworth.

At the time that it was thus conspicuous for its magnitude and vigour, we may reasonably suppose it to have been in its prime; if, therefore, we pay any regard to the received opinion which is applied to the chestnut, equally with the oak, that it is three hundred years in coming to perfection, this calculation takes us back to the beginning of the reign of Egbert, in the year 800, for the commencement of the existence of the Tortworth Chestnut.

Well then may we exclaim with the poet-

Hail, old patrician trees, so great and good!

The Walnut (_Juglans regia_) is supposed to have been introduced from Persia by the Romans; but although we can have no claim to it as a native, yet it has thriven so remarkably well, as for many years since to have furnished us with a large quant.i.ty of a highly valuable timber.

So much indeed is its wood esteemed, as to have caused its use only in the better kinds of cabinet-work, such as drawing-room furniture, internal fittings, and where mahogany would now be considered as somewhat common; it has, too, been ever esteemed as a wood for gun-stocks, as it combines hardness, toughness, and an agreeable colour with a great degree of lightness-being of a less specific gravity than that of any other kind of hard wood.

Fowling-pieces, gentlemen's rifles, pistols, and all the finer kinds of small arms, usually have stocks of walnut, as its texture, colour, and the sharpness with which fancy carvings can be worked, peculiarly adapt it for the purpose.

During the continental war, English walnut fetched an enormous price.

Selby tells us that a single tree was sold for 600, owing to which many of the n.o.blest specimens were sacrificed; and Loudon tells us that, about 1806, no less than 12,000 trees were annually required for these uses in France.

In England this tree is princ.i.p.ally grown for its fruit, which is a great favourite when ripe as an adjunct to the social gla.s.s. Still enormous quant.i.ties are never allowed to attain to ripeness, from their being used in a green state for the purposes of pickling, sauces, and the like; indeed, so much is the green part of the walnut esteemed for its flavouring properties, that the very "hulls," or coverings to the ripened fruits, are employed as an ingredient in the preparation of sauces and flavourings.

Another use of the fruit, especially on the Continent, is that of making oil, which is considered to be little, if at all, inferior to fine olive-oil.

The walnut-tree, then, may be considered as offering many claims for its more extensive cultivation, for although native growths of timber have been of late years in a measure superseded by American walnut and hickory wood, still it offers no mean inducements to the planter upon this score alone, at the same time it must be allowed that with us the chief inducement to the culture of this tree is the value of its fruit and the handsome tree which it makes.

In the growth of this and the preceding, it is always best to procure good, healthy, young trees from the nurseryman; indeed, in planting all forest trees this may be considered as not only the best, but usually the cheapest mode of proceeding.

CHAPTER XLIV.

ON THE ELM.

To the critical botanist the study of the different kinds of Elm is one of the most perplexing subjects he has to cope with, the fact being, that if the seed of any one form be cultivated, the results will seldom or never be uniform, for not only may several well-known varieties be produced from the seed of a single tree, but even new forms may thus be obtained.

On this account have arisen the great discrepancies one meets with in authors as regards nomenclature; some making many species of the Elms commonly met with in Great Britain, while others reduce them to two; viz.-

_Ulmus campestris_-Small-leaved, Common Upright or English Elm.

_Ulmus montana_-Large-leaved, Spreading Scotch or Wych Elm.

But though these are the names used by most authors to distinguish these two well-recognized forms, yet they have been reversed in Dr. Arnott's edition of Hooker's "Flora," thus:-

_Ulmus suberosa_ (Ehrh.)-Common or English Elm.

_Ulmus campestris_ (L.)-Broad-leaved or Wych Hazel.

Now it is not our object to enter into a discussion on the much-vexed question of species, and therefore, without even determining whether the English and Scotch Elms be absolutely distinct, we shall yet describe as two well-established forms of forest trees, and endeavour to put them in their proper position among profitable and ornamental timber trees, to which end we would distinguish them as follows:-

1. ULMUS CAMPESTRIS. 2. ULMUS MONTANA.

(_English Elm._) (_Scotch Elm._)

Leaves small, doubly-notched at Leaves larger, divided into the margin, with an alternation segments at the margin, which of larger and smaller teeth segments are notched with fine (alternately serrate). serrated teeth.

Fruit small and flat, with a deep Fruit large and flat, with a slight notch at the apex; bunches notch at the apex; bunches large somewhat small and inconspicuous. and having the general appearance of bunches of hops.

Branches more or less spreading, Branches more or less upright, inclining to be rough or even corky smooth, and even. Twigs sometimes (_suberose_). Twigs more or less clothed with a short down.

hairy.

Bole more or less towering upwards, Bole shorter, branching at a its divisions having the same moderate elevation into large tendency. Arms more like those of spreading arms, more like those of the beech. the oak.

Roots throwing up suckers often at Roots not stoloniferous.

a great distance from the tree.

1. _Ulmus campestris._-The English Elm, though not the producer of the most valuable timber, or of a kind for more refined purposes, is still one of the most extensively useful of any kind whatsoever. The long straight balks of this Elm caused it at one time to be employed for water-pipes; these can be readily cut into boards of great length and width, which are useful for a variety of purposes. Selby sums up an account of its character as follows:-

The wood when matured is of a deep-brown colour, compact and fine-grained; according to Loudon, it loses nearly two-thirds of its weight in drying, as when cut it weighs nearly seventy pounds the cubic foot, and when seasoned not more than twenty-eight pounds and a half. In the lateral adhesion of its fibre it surpa.s.ses the _U. montana_, though perhaps inferior to it in longitudinal toughness, and therefore not capable of supporting so severe a cross strain. The former property, however, eminently qualifies it for every purpose where a strong wood that will not split or crack, either from concussion or the action of sun and wet, is required; on this account, Matthew, in his able treatise on naval timber, strongly recommends it for the "blocks, dead-eyes, and other wooden furniture of rigging." In country carpentry it is very extensively used in all the Southern parts of England; but the purposes to which it is applied it is unnecessary to enumerate, these having already been described by Evelyn and subsequent authors. Its durability under water, as well as the straightness and great length of its stem, qualifies it for making the keels of large s.h.i.+ps, for which purpose it sells at a very high price.

As an ornamental tree for general purposes, few can surpa.s.s the elm, as when well-grown and not too much interfered with by the forester, it has a gracefully aspiring form without a disposition to lankiness: its foliage is thick enough to afford any amount of shade, and yet is never of a heavy appearance.

It flourishes best in good deep soil, in which the most solid balks are grown: when planted on poor land or on gravel-beds it decays at the heart at a very early age. Some of the English elms in Hyde Park have thus decayed, whilst others have attained a respectable size and age, having been injured by storms:-

The wintry winds had pa.s.sed And swept an arm away, And winter found a wound at last, In which to work decay.

In good soil the English elm grows to an enormous size, remaining perfectly solid to a good old age. We remember the felling of a tree called "Piff's Elm," on the high-road between Cheltenham and Tewkesbury, in which the hole measured 28 feet in circ.u.mference at 4 feet from the ground, and we counted 198 rings of annual growth. Still, when grown in poor gravelly soils and in the usual hedge mode, in which they are periodically shrouded and crippled, they often begin to decay in the centre at less than twenty years of age.

There are varieties of the _U. campestris_, which, as they are not of any particular importance as timber trees, need only be lightly touched upon in this place. They are as follows:-

1. _Ulmus suberosa_-Cork Elm, bark of the limbs exceedingly corky.

2. _Ulmus carpinifolia_-Hornbeam-leaved Elm, leaves strongly-veined, serratures blunt; branches nearly smooth.

3. _Ulmus stricta_-Cornish Elm, leaves smooth and s.h.i.+ning above, doubly serrated, with obtuse teeth; branches bright-brown, smooth, erect.

4. _Ulmus glabra_-Small-leaved Elm, leaves small and smooth; branches pendulous.

2. _Ulmus montana._-The Scotch Elm, the broad-leaved elm (wych hazel) of most parts of England and Scotland, is well distinguished by its large broad leaves, hop-like fruits, large limbs diverging from a less towering trunk at an obtuse angle, branches more or less lax and pendulous, bark of the twigs dark brown, smooth and not corky; of stem when rough, not _suberose_.

This tree is reputed wild, but there seems reason to think that this form, and certainly the _U. campestris_, has been introduced. One reason for this conclusion is that although the _U. montana_ produces such an enormous amount of seed, yet, in as far as we know, none of this produces young trees, or, in other words, this elm does not appear to increase sporadically. Even in cultivation it is found to be exceedingly difficult to replenish our nursery stock from seed, and hence the cost of young plants, as they have to be produced from suckers, or otherwise layered, and occasionally grown from cuttings. Evelyn says:-

It seems to be so much more addicted to some places than to others, that I have frequently doubted whether it be a pure indigene or translat.i.tious; and not only because I have hardly ever known any considerable woods of them (besides some few nurseries near Cambridge, planted, I suppose, for store), but most continually in tufts, hedge-rows, and mounds; and that Shrops.h.i.+re, and several other counties, have rarely any growing in many miles together.-_Sylva_, vol. i. p. 127.

To this may be added the fact that the most notable elm trees will usually be found at cross-roads-as Maul's Elm at Cheltenham, nearly 40 feet in circ.u.mference, or about dwellings; the fine old trunk at the Slade Farm, near Stroud, Gloucesters.h.i.+re, as much as 50 feet, for some time hollow, and once used as a cider-mill; the fine elms in our parks, as at Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, and others; and such avenues of elms as seen at Christchurch.

As a timber tree the Scotch elm is not esteemed so highly as is the English sort. To begin with, it does not grow such straight even balks; it is more gnarled and knotty in sawing, and more difficult to work.