Heybroek HM, 2015

Commentary - doi: 10.3832/ifor1244-008 ©iForest – Biogeosciences and Forestry Collection: 3rd International Elm Conference, Florence (Italy - 2013) more or less comparable to U. glabra. A wi- “The elms after 100 years of Dutch Elm disease” der range of genotypes of that species from Guest Editors: A. Santini, L. Ghelardini, E. Collin, A. Solla, J. Brunet, M. Faccoli, A. Scala, the colder valleys of the Himalaya seemed S. De Vries, J. Buiteveld desirable. So, after extensive preparations, I found myself in beautiful Kashmir, in the foothills The elm, tree of milk and wine of the Himalaya, in August 1960. The valley of Kashmir, with its large lakes, lies at some 1600 m a.s.l.; as U. wallichiana occurs (1-2) Hans M Heybroek roughly at altitudes of between 1800 and 3000 m, we had to ascend into the surroun- ding hills. The Indian Forest Service, and the Elm has played an important role in European culture for thousands of years, Botanical Survey of India provided liberal in many roles, with regional variation. In material culture, its wood has assis- assistance. Soon, in a mixed coniferous fo- ted in hunting and warfare for over seven thousand years; but more impor- rest that looked like our alpine forests, we tantly, its leaves and bark were semi-indispensable for the production of milk found our first U. wallichiana. What a disap- and meat, and served as an emergency food for humans. In the Mediterranean, pointment! It was a crooked stump, with elm was the main tool for the production of a good quality wine by providing hardly any branches or twigs. I had come support for the grapevine, and it helped feeding the cattle. These functions here hoping to find trees with a good shape sometimes found an echo in the non-material culture. The fact that in Germa- for Dutch conditions, not expecting monstro- nic genesis stories the first woman was created out of an elm (the man out of sities like this one. Fortunately, in the fol- an ash), as well as a severe local taboo on the use of elm wood for skis, threa- lowing days, the story behind this tree un- tening the offender with a place in hell, seem both connected to the superior folded. We found another elm, what a relief, feeding value of this tree. In England and in parts of continental Europe most this time a well-grown middle-aged tree in- sacred trees were elms, sometimes performing female functions such as the deed, but with some damage in the crown. production of babies. In the Mediterranean, however, the elm was seen as the There was a shepherd with his sheep around, male partner in the “marriage of the vine to the elm”, which was the celebra- my companions asked him something, he ted system of viticulture. That image has been used by poets and politicians agreed, went to the elm, put a small long- over the ages to praise the effects of human marriage, cooperation and inter- shafted axe in his belt, took his shoes off and dependence. It even forms the core of the apocryphal Bible book “The Shep- climbed bare-footed rapidly into the crown herd”, where it is seen as a symbol and example for a kind of symbiosis be- of the tree. There he started cutting twigs tween the rich and the poor. In conclusion, the ultimate origin of the English with leaves and threw those down. I was elm or “Atinia”, as well as its discovery is discussed, which appears to be a happy, as I could choose and cut good bud- question of milk and wine. wood, put it in polythene and wrap the bag in a wet cloth to keep it cool. But the shep- Keywords: Ulmus, Viticulture, Fodder, Emergency Food, Non-material Culture, herd did it to give his sheep good fodder: Cultivar “Atinia”, Cultivar “Arbia” they came and ate the leaves eagerly. The shepherd was on his way to lower elevations, end-summer in the annual vertical trek, The elm, tree of milk and wine viving elms mainly in France, England, Ire- which we call transhumance in Europe. On The story I am going to tell started in the land and Holland, hoping some might have a his way down through this valley, passing Himalaya in 1960. In the preceding years I useful degree of resistance to the disease but through the semi-public forest he would lop had tried to collect additional basic material also resistance to sea wind, which we need elms as their leaves were an excellent fodder. for our elm breeding project which was star- in our elms. Thereby we got experience in If the tree was ruined in the process, he ted back in 1927 by Christine Buisman, con- sending budwood home by mail in fall and would scarcely care. It was a destructive way tinued after her death in 1936 by Johanna having it grafted in the greenhouse. Getting of lopping. We saw more of such elms on Went, from whom I took it over in 1953. I budwood by correspondence was not suc- our way: if you want to be a shepherd here, collected budwood from good-looking sur- cessful. So, when our single clone of Ulmus you must be able to climb trees! (Fig. 1). wallichiana was badly damaged in the seve- But the story goes on. We also often saw re winter of 1955/56, our Elm Committee elms, mostly close to habitation or between (1) Formerly at Dorschkamp Forest decided I should go to the Himalaya myself fields, which were carefully lopped (Fig. 2), Research Station, Wageningen (The Nether- and select good types (good shape, frost re- while the cut twigs were stored orderly in a lands); (2) Current address: Jonkerlaan 90- sistance, hopefully even higher resistance to fork. These twigs would be collected in win- 113, 2242 EX Wassenaar (The Netherlands) disease) of U. wallichiana there. The species ter by the owner of the tree and serve as a played a pivotal role in our breeding: we had rich winter fodder for the animals, next to @ Hans M Heybroek many small-leaved clones of U. minor with a straw of corn and other poor foodstuff. Hay ([email protected]) reasonable level of disease resistance, which seemed not to be present. So, besides the fa- we wanted to combine with a resistant large- tal overuse of the elms by the shepherds, Received: Jan 16, 2014 - Accepted: Jul 17, leaved clone, so repeating the success story there was a sustainable use by the sedentary 2014 of U. x hollandica. But the large-leaved U. farmers, they even planted elms solely for Citation: Heybroek HM, 2015. The elm, tree glabra was uniformly very susceptible, and this purpose. We passed by a farmhouse of milk and wine. iForest 8: 181-186 [online so was U. elliptica, its relative from the Cau- where three young trees had been planted re- 2014-08-13] URL: http://www.sisef.it/ casus; the only remaining candidate with an cently: a peach, an almond and an elm. We iforest/contents/?id=ifor1244-007 acceptable level of resistance was U. walli- asked the farmer why he had chosen these chiana, whose morphology and ecology are three species (silly questions these foreigners Communicated by: Alberto Santini © SISEF http://www.sisef.it/iforest/ 181 iForest (2015) 8: 181-186 Heybroek HM - iForest 8: 181-186 can ask!): “Well, obviously, the fruit trees ash, perhaps with lime and rowan at the side. for the humans, the elm for the cow”. We Other tree species were less or not edible. saw one village surrounded by a row of plan- Young and inner bark of elm may have been ted elms (Heybroek 1963). But both the de- used as a very good fodder for pigs and hor- structive lopping in the forest and the sus- ses, even for calves and in emergency as tainable lopping by the farmers would pre- food for humans. vent the trees from flowering, preventing na- Discussions continue on the question how tural regeneration. Occasionally, some other much impact this human use of elm might tree species was lopped for fodder. One have had on the elm population of those specimen of ash (Fraxinus sp.) was seen, it days, and in how far it could explain or have was lopped. contributed to the reduction of elm pollen in Back in Europe, I found to my surprise that the diagrams. After all, the human popula- there is a solid body of literature on the use tion was perhaps too low to explain it all by of tree leaves for fodder here too, both in the itself. Some scientists have therefore sugges- distant and in the near past. In some regions ted a hypothetical disease that might have re- this use exists even today. duced the elm population; elsewhere, I have First the distant past. In archeology, there argued that the human uses of elm may have is a continuing discussion on the so-called started local outbreaks of elm bark beetles elm decline, a widespread and severe reduc- which by their sheer numbers killed weake- tion of the presence of elm pollen in Euro- ned and old trees, perpetuating the outbreak pean pollen diagrams of about 6000 years over a number of years until it was smo- ago over a large part of the continent. As this thered by a wet and cool summer (Heybroek coincided more or less with the immigration et al. 2009). of new groups of farmers, scientists sugges- But all speculations on the prehistoric hu- ted these farmers kept their cattle mainly in man use of elms are based on well-documen- kraals close to habitation, and fed them with ted historical cases of such use.

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