The American Elm is, in most parts of the Eastern States, the most magnificent tree to be seen, and, probably, the one most cultivated, with the exception of the Maples, for shade and ornament. It affects many different shapes, and all of them beautiful. They are all long-lived trees, with hard wood, consisting of twisted and interlaced fibers, alternate, deciduous, harsh, serrated leaves, inequalate at base.

The single or compound plume is represented by trees stretching up in a single stem, or two or three parallel lines, to the height of seventy or even a hundred feet, and spreading out in one or two light feathering plumes. Of this character is the tall patriarch tree that stands alone on the common in Pittsfield. Many specimens of this form may be found in both Massachusetts and Connecticut, where the tall, primeval forest has been cut away, and the Elm alone has been left standing.

The character of the trunk is almost as various as that of the general form of the tree. You sometimes see it a straight, gradually-tapering column, shooting up to sixty or eighty feet, without a limb; at other times, an inverted small branch or two, pushing out at the fork, hangs waving downward for some feet. Again, you see it a verdant pillar of foliage,feathering from the branches to the ground.

With this endless variety of beauty, is it wonderful that the American Elm should be the greatest favorite with the New England people? And it has the additional recommendation of retaining much of its beauty when the foliage is gone. The sturdy trunk and the airy sweep of the branches are always there, and few objects of the kind are more beautiful than the feathered alternate regularity of the spray upon the outermost and uppermost boughs. With the earnest spring, these are fringed with numerous bunches of red blossoms, soon to give place to soft, delicious green of the young leaves.

Coming with such recommendations, the Elm is more frequently transplanted than any other forest tree, with the exception of the Maples, and, from the vigor and number of its roots, it is more sure than any other to live. It is oftener spared, too, in most parts of the country when the rest of the forest is to be cut away. We frequently, therefore, see it standing, for a shade to cattle in pastures, and by fences, and sometimes in mid-field, on tilled lands, or left to shade and protect, and give an air of comfort to farm-houses. And in the excellent practice, becoming every year more common, of ornamenting towns and villages, and sheltering sunny roads with rows of trees, of trees, too, which, much as we value the Elm, we can not but consider its equals and often its superiors, the Maples, the Lindens, Birches, Beeches, and even the monarch of the forest, the lordly Oak itself.

The Elm grows in almost any soil, but never attains its loftiest elevation except in rich, moist ground, such as is found on the banks of rivers. In such situations, it has so rapid a growth, that one who has planted it may live, without passing beyond the ordinary age of man, to see it become a magnificent tree. It is very tenacious of life, and bears transplanting of every size, from five to six and even twenty feet.

[Mr. Bement is an ardent lover of nature, and he will be found to speak warmly in praise of his favorites. He has said none too much of the Elm, one of the stateliest trees that any country can boast of. His article will be continued. - Ed].