Evening star., 1933-10-03
SCIENTISTS STUDY
DISEASE OF ELMS
Government Seeks to Save
Trees From Same Fate
as Chestnuts.

Will the American elm suffer the
fate OF the chestnut, which has been
wiped out in many sections Of the
country by blight? Government scien-
lists are studying the spread of the
Dutch elm disease" said to have been
brought into the country in a ship
ment of logs from Europe
i Others than lumbermen are inter-
ested in anything that threatens the
American elm, claimed by many to
be our handsomest shade tree" says a
bulletin from the National Geographic
Society Graceful and stately, the elm
Is one OF the most characteristic scenic
features Of roads. farms. villages and
even cities in more than half the area
of the United States.
Sometimes Called White Elm.
"1'he American elm. or white elm as
it Is sometimes called, is native to
vast sweep of territory extending from
Southern Newfoundland and the north
shore of Lake Superior, west to the
Black Hills of South Dakota, and south
to Texas and Florida; but it is more
numerous and it attains greater size
in the northern part Of its range.
With its great arching limbs, up
holding spray of dark and beautiful
foliage, the elm is unsurpassed as a
shade tree and in the Northeastern
States it is commonly used to beautify
city streets and country roadsides, as
well as public parks and estates.
In the National Capital several
famous boulevards are lined with fine
old elms which join their foliage over
head to form cathedral arch of green
cry above the streets. The appearance
, and charm of many New England vii
lagos would be entirely altered if their
magnificent elm trees were lost In
some places in New England the elm
reaches a height of 125 feet or more
and has a trunk diameter of from
6 to 10 feet. The foliage spread some
times equals or even exceeds, the
height.
1T was under the shade Of an elm at
Cambridge, Mass, that George Wash
ington took command of the Continental
Army in ITS. This tree was not an
unusually large one, but it was esti-
mated that the seven. million leaves
which it developed each year constituted
surface of foliage about five acres in
extent.
Under another famous old elm on
the banks of the Delaware, William
Penn made his treaty of peace and
friendship with the Indians. The state
ly elm on the Capitol grounds in Wash
ington, directly east of the Senate
chamber, was planted, according to ira
dition, by the first President himself
more than a century and a third ago.
THE American elm needs good rich
soil and plenty of moisture, but it will
also grow in the dry plains country. 1t
f1ourishes best in bottom lands and
along streams The wood of the elm
is hard, strong, heavy and tough. Rang
in color from light brown to almost
white, it is used commercially wherever
strength and toughness are required.
as in the manufacture Of wagons. tool
handles. wheels. barrels and axles.
Disease Caused by Fungus.
while the American elm may be
easily recognized by its upward-sweep-
ing limbs. it can also be identified by
oval, sharply-pointed leaves which grow
alternately on the twigs. The edges Of
the leaves are sharply-toothed, dark
green above and lighter below.
The name elm itself occurs in nearly
all German and Scandinavian dialects,
where. says one authority, it plays
through the vowels' -alm.' elm.
lime 'olm, and 'ulme.' In each case it
is apparently a derivative OF the Latin
'ulmus.' which can be traced to an in
strument for punishment. perhaps be-
cause slaves we're commonly whipped
with rods of elm.
Scientists have found that the Dutch
elm disease is caused by fungus which
attacks the trees Its presence in the
elm follows the visits of either of two
clasely related bark-boring beetles. Thus
far the only method of combating the
spread Of the disease is to cut of the
infected parts of the tree. or. If the en-
tire tree is diseased. to chop it down
and destroy the wood"