Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/244

224 free from sudden bends and knots, and suitable for conversion into plank and board.

7. All the timber to have the bark on the wanes, to be good, sound, merchantable, well conditioned, such as shall be approved of by the officers of the respective yards, and in every respect fit for the service of her Majesty's navy.

THE WYCH ELM TREE (Ulmus montana)

is most abundant in the North of England and in Scotland, and is only sparingly scattered over the southern counties.

Ordinarily this description of Elm is of very moderate dimensions, although instances are by no means rare of its attaining a great size. In Evelyn's "Sylvia," we are informed that a Wych Elm, which grew in the park of Sir Walter Bagot, in Staffordshire, measured 17 feet in diameter at the base, and was estimated to contain the large quantity of 97 tons of timber.

The Wych is readily distinguished from the common Elm by its smoother and thinner bark, by the absence of heavy branches low down on the stem, and by the larger size of the leaves.

The wood is of a light-brownish colour, rather more porous than the common Elm, tough, and moderately hard when seasoned. Being generally clean and straight in the grain, and very flexible when steamed, it is in great request for boat-building; in other respects its uses are as varied and numerous as those of the common Elm.

THE DUTCH ELM TREE

closely resembles the Wych Elm, and is found growing in this country under the same conditions of soil, aspect, &c.