SLIPPERY ELM
(Ulmus Pubescens)
This tree is known as slippery elm in every state where it grows, thirty or more; but in some localities it has other names also. It is doubtful if any person who is acquainted with the tree would fail to recognize it by the name slippery elm, though some who are acquainted with the lumber only might not know it by that name. Those who call it red elm have in mind the color of the heartwood which is of deeper red than the wood of any other elm, or they may refer to the tawny pubescence on the young shoots in winter. The botanical name describes that characteristic.
In the North, the slippery elm is sometimes known as moose elm. It furnishes forage in winter for the moose and other herbivorous animals when ground plants are covered with snow. The moose is able to eat branches as thick as a man’s thumb. The principal food element in the twigs is the mucilaginous inner bark. It is this which gives the tree its name slippery elm. The value of the bark as a food has been questioned. It is agreeable to the taste of both man and beast, but it is claimed that a human being will starve to death on it, though it will prolong life several days. The lower animals, however, seem able to derive more benefit from eating the bark. An incident of the War of 1812 appears to prove this. The army under General Harrison, operating in the vicinity of Lake Erie, kept the horses of the expedition alive by feeding them on slippery elm bark, stripped from the trees and chopped in small bits.
The inner bark has long been used for medicinal purposes. It is now ground fine and is kept for sale in drug stores, but formerly it was a household remedy which most families in the country provided and kept in store along with catnip, mandrake, sage, dogwood blossoms, and other rural remedies which were depended upon to rout diseases in the days when physicians were few. The slippery elm bark was peeled from the tree in long strips, the rough outer layers were shaved off, leaving the mucilaginous inner layer. That was from an eighth to a quarter of an inch thick. It was dried and put away for use. When needed it was pounded to a pulp, moistened with water, and applied as a poultice, if an external remedy was wanted. If a medicine was needed, a decoction was drunk as tea. There is no question that the remedy often produced good results when no doctor was within reach. A well-known medical writer said three-quarters of a century ago that the slippery elm tree was worth its weight in gold.
The range of slippery elm extends from the lower St. Lawrence river through Canada to North Dakota. It is found in Texas as far west as the San Antonio river, and its western limit is generally from 200 to 300 miles west of the Mississippi river. Its range extends south nearly to the Gulf of Mexico. It is not this tree’s habit to grow in thick stands, but it occurs singly or in small groups on the banks of streams or on rich hillsides.
The average size is scarcely half that of white elm. Few trees exceed a height of seventy feet and a diameter of two. It grows rapidly at first, but does not live to old age. The crown lacks the symmetry and beauty so conspicuous in white elm. The limbs follow no law of regularity, but leave the trunk at haphazard. The fruit is mature before the leaves are half grown. The seeds have more wing area than those of white elm; and, like those of white elm, the wing surrounds the flat seed on all its edges. The leaves are rough to the touch, and when crumpled in the hand, the crunching sensation is unpleasant.
Next to white elm, slippery elm appears to be more abundant than any other member of the group; but statistics do not give the basis for close estimates. The factories of Michigan use 3,700,000 feet of slippery elm a year, and 44,000,000 of white elm. The proportion of slippery to white is larger in the factories of Illinois.
The uses are the same as for other elms. The wood is rated more durable than the others, but it is not in much demand for outdoor work where resistance to decay is an important consideration. It is sometimes set for fence posts, but the results are scarcely satisfactory, particularly for round posts which are largely sapwood. Posts sawed from the heartwood of large trees would do better. The deeper red of the heartwood gives it an advantage over the other elms for furniture and finish where natural colors are shown; but this is not important because no elm’s natural color stands for much in the estimation of users of fine woods. The more common use of slippery elm is for boxes and cooperage. Next to red gum, it is employed in larger quantities for cooperage in Illinois than any other wood.
The supply is rapidly decreasing. The cut for lumber is the chief drain, but a not inconsiderable one is the peeling of trees for bark. This goes on all over the species’ range and much of it is done by boys with knives and hatchets. It is often hard to find slippery elms within miles of a town, because all have succumbed to bark hunters.
Cedar Elm (Ulmus crassifolia) appears to bear this name because it is often found associated with red cedars on the dry limestone hills of Texas. There is little in the form and appearance of the tree to suggest the tall, tapering conical crown of cedar. There is still less in the wood. In some parts of Texas the species is called red elm, on account of the color of the wood, while in Arkansas, which is near the northern boundary of its range, it is locally known as basket elm, because basket makers find desirable qualities in its wood. It is a species of rather limited range, but it is abundant in certain regions. It is found as far east as Sunflower river, Mississippi, north into Arkansas, west to Pecos river, Texas, and south into Mexico. It is confined to three states, this side the Rio Grande. Trees on dry hills are inclined to be shrubby, but in damp valleys where soil is fertile, specimens attain a height of eighty feet and a diameter of three, but the average is not nearly so large. The leaves are small but numerous. The flowering habits of this elm are somewhat erratic. The usual time for bloom to appear is August, and a month or six weeks afterwards the small seeds are ready for flight; but occasionally, as if not satisfied with its first effort, the tree blooms again in October, and ripens a second crop late in the fall. The seeds are poorly supplied with wings, which are reduced to narrow margins surrounding the seed. It does not appear, however, that the species is in any way handicapped in securing reproduction. The small shoots are equipped with flat, corky keels, similar to but much smaller than those of the wing elm.
This tree is important for the lumber it produces. It is the common and most abundant elm of Texas, and it is found in a large part of that state. The wood is the weakest of the elms, and is likewise quite brittle; but in the region where it is most abundant it compares favorably with any other. The best is cut from the largest trees, which grow in valleys where moisture is abundant. The growth found on the dry hills is of poor quality, and is worth little, even for fuel. The highest development in Texas, and also the highest in the species’ range, is in the valleys of Trinity and Guadalupe rivers. In Texas this wood is employed in furniture factories as inside frames, to be covered by other woods, but it is not employed as outside parts of furniture, unless in very cheap kinds. It is suitable for drain boards and floors of refrigerators where it is wet much of the time. Under such circumstances it is more easily kept clean than most other woods. It whitens with repeated scrubbings. One of its most common uses in Texas is for wagon hubs. Some wheelwrights pronounce it next to the best native wood for that purpose, the first place being accorded Osage orange. The tree is often planted for shade along the streets of Texas towns, and develops thick crowns and satisfactory forms.
Red Elm (Ulmus serotina) is a lately discovered member of the elm family. It so closely resembles the cork elm that it was supposed to be of the same species, and the close scrutiny of a botanist was required to discover that it was a separate species. Sargent observed the flowers opening in September while those of cork elm appear in early spring. The seeds ripen in November, while cork elm’s are ripe early in the summer. The tree was named red elm, the wood being reddish-brown. That name is widely applied to slippery elm, but it is improbable that much confusion will result. The red elm’s range is quite restricted and in that area the slippery elm is not important. Red elm occurs on limestone hills and river banks from central Kentucky to northern Georgia and Alabama. It attains a height of fifty or sixty feet and a diameter of two or three. The leaves are from two to four inches in length, and one or two wide, with margins toothed like the other elms. The midrib is yellow, and in the autumn the leaves change to an orange yellow before falling. Branches which are two or three years old develop corky wings, two or three in number.
It is not known that mechanical tests of the wood have been made in a regular way to determine its physical properties, but superficial examination indicates that it is hard, tough, and strong, apparently about the same as cork elm. Special lists of uses for this wood have not been compiled for the reason that lumbermen and operators of sawmills have never distinguished it from other elms of the region. Since it has never been left standing in districts where other elms are cut, it is evident that it has been regularly put to use for vehicles, agricultural implements, boxes, crates, and slack cooperage, because such articles have been manufactured in the region. The red elm has been occasionally planted as a shade tree along streets of towns in northern Georgia and Alabama.
Slippery elm branch
