Columella mentions the use of Elm leaves to feed oxen; I assume this was for summer or
autumn use direct from the tree. In the UK with more rain and lower temperatures, the
summer or autumn is not nearly so important as in Italy. Our problem is feed for the
winter. The use of Holly and leafless branches to feed deer and other livestock in ex-
treme weather is now quite well known. Our forebears were not able to produce all the
hay they needed and we were told at school that all the surplus livestock was killed and
salted before the winter. The only reliable source of hay before modern fertilisers was
riverside meadows that were regularly fertilised by silt from winter flooding. This land,
little more than a century ago, was usually split into small strips called doles for the use
of individual people.
Further reading, especially the Agrarian History of England and Wales Vol. 1 pages 27-
29 makes it quite clear that Elm was fed to livestock. Evelyn is quoted in 1664, Elm
leaves "suffered to dry upon the branches.........will prove a great relief to cattle in
winter and scorching summers, when hay and fodder is dear; they will eat them before
oats and thrive exceedingly well on them". The point is also well made that a great deal
of land would be needed to sustain livestock. This strongly suggests that, like hay, there
was never a great surplus, so it was probably reserved as a small daily supplement, time
of extreme weather or for special use, as when oxen were being used for winter plough-
ing when good feeding was essential.
It seems a well-known fact, but to me, unproven, that Elm was mostly found close to
habitation sites, and part of the traditional village scene. This would fit well with the
many small livestock keepers who would each have had a little land around which Elm
was planted to use for winter feed. Evelyn, quoted earlier, suggests this was probably
harvested on the branch, doubtless as soon as the initial early season's growth was end-
ing. If just one year's growth was taken, I suspect it would have to be dried like hay, or
it would soon become a damp mess. I suspect growth of two or perhaps three years was
cut and made into faggots which would then have good airflow to dry successfully, and
would not even have to be put in the sun to dry. Obviously the older the growth cut, the
lower the proportion of leaf to twig. Unlike green twigs fed in the winter when most
livestock could strip the bark off the twig, the summer harvested twig would by winter
have dried hard and the bark unavailable unless the whole twig and leaf was eaten,
which would hardly be possible even into the third year. This year 1 shall be cutting
different age growth and feeding it to different classes of stock in the coming winter, to
guide me on this.
Landscape paintings clearly show what were once widely known as Shredded Elms.
This was the practice of cutting all the branches off the trunk to the top canopy. I believe
I have seen some early photographs showing this, which makes the practice current
within the last 150 years. After my earlier thoughts I do not know if this was done every
year, or after two or three years.
18
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 47, May 2005