[EXOGENOUS or DICOTYLEDONOUS; Angiosperms; Apetalous.]

1. Ulmus campes'tris, English elm, now abundant in this country, v. 2, (ap.), 80 f., A.-My., Britain. 2. Salix trian'dra, Long-leaved willow, xx. 2, (ap.), 30 f., My.-Au., Britain. 3. Sa'lix ru'bra, Green osier, xx. 2, (ap.), 8 f., A.-My., England. 4. Sa'lix rosmarinifo'lia, Rosemary willow, xx. 2, (ap.), 3 f., A.-My., N. Am. 5. Pop'ulus al'ba, Abēle tree, xx. 8, (ap.), 40 f., M.-A. (introduced). 6. Pop'ulus ni'gra, Black poplar, xx. 8, (ap.), 30 f., M.-A., Britain. 7. Pop'ulus monilif'era, Canadian poplar, xx. 8, (ap.), 70 f., My., N. Am. 8. Pop'ulus trem'ula, Aspen, xx. 8, (ap.), 50 f., A.-Jn., Britain. 9. Be'tula al'ba, Common birch, xix. 12, (ap.), 40 f., A.-Jn., Britain. 10. Be'tula len'ta, Mountain mahogany, black birch, or sweet birch, xix. 12, (ap.), 50 f., My.-Jn., N. Am. 11. Sa'lix Babylon'ica, Weeping willow, xx. 2, (ap.), 40 f., My., Levant.

Elm in blossom.

two distinct kinds, the lowland and the mountain elm. Certain it is that the elm, like the apple, has a remarkable tendency to produce new varieties from the seed; and if a bed be sown with the seeds, some of the plants will have large leaves, and some small ones; some will be early, and others late; and some will have smooth bark, and others rough.

3. The ancient poets frequently mention the elm. The Greeks and Romans considered all as funeral trees which produced no fruit fit for the use of man. Homer alludes to this when he tells us, in the Iliad, that Achilles raised a monument to the father of Andromache in a grove of elms:

Jove's sylvan daughters bade their elms bestow

A barren shade, and in his honor grow."

4. So generally, among the Romans, was the elm used as

a prop to the vine, that the one was considered by the poets inseparable from the other.

"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,

'Twould creep, a poor neglected shrub, below."—OVID.

And finally, the poet Cowper, in the "Task," very accurately sketches the varieties of form in the elm, alludes to the different sites where it is found, and describes an enchanting scene, where a lowly cot, "perched upon the green hill-top," is

"Environ'd with a ring of branching elms
That overhang the thatch."

5. The elm is the favorite shade-tree in the villages of New England. In the centre of the public square, in the beautiful village of Pittsfield, in Massachusetts, there stands alone, in all its majesty, encircled by a new generation of lesser trees, a venerable old elm, which measures one hundred and twentyeight feet in height, with a trunk thirteen feet and nine inches in circumfererence at a yard from the ground, and ninety feet to the lowermost limbs. Many interesting incidents in the history of the country are associated with this much-revered and ancient tenant of the soil. It was beneath its shade that the Berkshire troops were marshaled previous to their march to Bunker Hill; and the first agricultural fair in America was held under its boughs. It was somewhat injured by lightning in the year 1841.

6.

Hail to the elm! the brave old elm!

Our last lone forest tree,

Whose limbs outstand the lightning's brand,

For a brave old elm is he!

For fifteen score of full-told years

He has borne his leafy prime,

Yet he holds them well, and lives to tell

His tale of the olden time!

Then hail to the elm! the green-topp'd elm!

And long may his branches wave,

For a relic is he, the gnarl'd old tree,

Of the times of the good and brave.-N. S. DODGE.

7. The willow and poplar, which are examples of the Willow family, are distinguished as being the largest members in a numerous class which have separate staminate and pistillate flowers on different plants. Willows generally grow on the banks of streams; and some of the smaller cultivated species, called osiers, are used for hoops, basket-work, and for thatching. Most of the species are easily recognized in the flowering season by their long, pendulous, and frequently downy spikes or clusters of flowers, called catkins. The blossoms of some of the water-willows, with their little knots of golden down, present a very beautiful appearance.

"The watery willow's spray, emboss'd
With oval knots of silken down;

Which soon, in form of papal crown,
Shall decorate the russet stem
With many a golden diadem."

8. The weeping or Babylonian willow, so celebrated for its drooping foliage, received its botanical name, Salix Babylonica, from Linnæus, in allusion to the 137th Psalm, where the Jews, in their captivity, are represented as sitting down by the waters of Babylon, and weeping, having hung their harps upon the willows, while their oppressors required of them one of the songs of Sion.

"By Babel's stream the captives sat,
And wept for Sion's hapless fate,
Useless their harps on willows hung,
While foes required a sacred song."
On the willow that harp is suspended,
Oh Salem! its sound should be free;
And the hour when thy glories were ended
But left me that token of thee:

And ne'er shall its soft tones be blended

With the voice of the spoiler by me.-BYRON.

9. The poplar is a member of the Willow family. Like the willow it is easily propagated, growing readily where a green twig is thrust into moist earth. A tree called the tulip poplar, or tulip-tree, common in this country, does not belong to this family. Popular tradition states that the cross was made from the aspen or poplar-tree, and that since the Passion of our Savior the leaves have never known rest. The vibratory motion of the leaves is indeed curious, and never fails to attract the attention of the observer. It arises from the length and slenderness of the footstalks to which they are attached. "Why tremble so', broad aspen-tree'? Why shake thy leaves ne'er ceasing`? At rest thou never seem'st to be',

10.

For when the air is still and clear',

Or when the nipping gale, increasing,

Shakes from thy boughs soft twilight's tear',
Thou tremblest still', broad aspen-tree',

And never tranquil seem'st to be."

11. The family of Birches is very small, being confined principally to the cooler parts of the northern hemisphere. One species, called the paper birch, furnished the Indians of America the bark of which they made their canoes. The elegance of its appearance has given it the appellation of "Lady of the Woods," and it is very properly considered the emblem of gracefulness.

12.

"Oh! come to the woodlands, 'tis joy to behold

The new-waken'd buds in our pathway unfold;

For spring has come forth, and the bland southern breeze

Is telling the tale to the shrubs and the trees,

Which, anxious to show her

The duty they owe her,

Have decked themselves gayly in em'rald and gold.

13.

But, though beautiful each, sure the fairest of all
Is yon birch, that is waving so graceful and tall:
How tender, yet bright, is the tint that is flung
O'er its delicate spray, which so lightly is hung,
That, like breeze of the mountain,

Or gush of the fountain,

It owns not of rest or of slumber the thrall."

14. The "birch-tree" is very prettily introduced in Longfellow's poem of Hiawatha, from which we make the following extract:

HIAWATHA'S CANOE.

"Give me of your bark, O birch-tree!
Of your yellow bark, O birch-tree!
Growing by the rushing river,
Tall and stately in the valley!
I a light canoe will build me,
That shall float upon the river
Like a yellow leaf in autumn,
Like a yellow water-lily.

Lay aside your cloak, O birch-tree!
Lay aside your white-skin wrapper;
For the summer time is coming,
And the sun is warm in heaven,

And you need no white-skin wrapper.'

Thus aloud cried Hiawatha
In the solitary forest,

When the birds were singing gayly,
In the moon of leaves were singing:
And the sun, from sleep awaking,
Started up, and said, 'Behold me!'
And the tree, with all its branches,
Rustled in the breeze of morning,
Saying, with a sigh of patience,
Take my cloak, O Hiawatha!"
With his knife the tree he girdled;
Just beneath its lowest branches,
Just above the roots he cut it,
Till the sap came oozing outward;
Down the trunk, from top to bottom,

Sheer he cleft the bark asunder;
With a wooden wedge he raised it,
Stripped it from the trunk unbroken."

LES. XVII. THE CONE-BEARING, OR PINE FAMILY.

1. In the cone-bearing, or Pine family, exogenous plants assume a new character, in having their seeds uncovered. Like the elm, willow, and birch, their flowers have no corolla: in some species the pistillate and staminate flowers are on the same plant, and in others on different plants, while in other particulars their inflorescence is often irregular, and seemingly imperfect. Yet here we find some of the noblest specimens of the vegetable kingdom; and no other family is of more importance to mankind than this, whether we view it with reference to its timber or its secretions.

2. Many of the trees of this family are gigantic in size, rap

1. Pinus Canaden'sis, Hemlock or Hemlock spruce, xix. 15, (ap.), 50 f., My., N. Am. 2. Pi'nus strobus, White or Weymouth pine, xix. 15, (ap.), 50-100 f., My., N. Am. 3. Pi'nus pi'nea, Stone pine, xix. 15, (ap.), 40 f., My., Italy. 4. Pi'nus or A'bies commu'nis, Common fir or Norway spruce, xix. 15, (ap.), 100 f., A., N. Europe. 5. Pi'nus or A'bies rubra, Red spruce, xix. 15, (ap.), 50 f., A., N. Am. 6. La'rix ce'drus, Cedar of Lebanon, xix. 15, (ap.), 60 f., A., W. Asia. 7. Cupre'sus thyoi'des, White cedar or cypress, xix. 15, (ap.), 20 f., A., N. Am. 8. Thuja occidenta'lis, American arbor-vitæ, xix. 15, (ap.), 25 f., A., N. Am. 9. Junip'erus Virginia'na, Red cedar, xx. 15, (ap.), 30 f., My.Jn., N. Am. 10. Tax'us bacca'ta, Common yew, xx. 15, (ap.), 20 f., A., Britain. id in growth, noble in aspect, robust in constitution; and they form a considerable proportion of woods or plantations in cultivated countries, and of forests where nature remains, in temperate countries, in a savage state. Their timber, in commerce, is known under the names of deal, fir, pine, and cedar; and is principally the wood of the spruce, the larch, the Scotch fir, the white or Weymouth pine of Vermont, and the Virginian cedar. Some of the pines of Northwest America are stupendous trees, attaining a height of two hundred and fifty feet. Those products called naval stores, such as tar, turpentine, pitch, together with numerous resins and balsams, are obtained from the Pine family.

3. The cone-bearing trees are not only of great value in ship-building, but in all structures in which durability is desired. From the wood of the juniper the Greeks carved the images of their gods; the wood of the arar-tree of Barbary is considered by the Turks indestructible, and on this account they use it for the ceilings and floors of their mosques; and