Editing Dutch elm disease (section)

===Historic period===
A less devastating form of the disease, caused by a different fungus, had possibly been present in north-west Europe for some time. Dr [[Oliver Rackham]] of Cambridge University presented evidence of an outbreak of elm disease in north-west Europe, c. 1819–1867. "Indications from annual rings [a reference to the dark staining in an annual ring in infected elms] confirm that Dutch elm disease was certainly present in 1867," he wrote, quoting contemporary accounts of diseased and dying elms, including this passage in [[Richard Jefferies]]' 1883 book, ''Nature near London'':

<blockquote>There is something wrong with elm trees. In the early part of this summer, not long after the leaves were fairly out upon them, here and there a branch appeared as if it had been touched with red-hot iron and burnt up, all the leaves withered and browned on the boughs. First one tree was thus affected, then another, then a third, till, looking round the fields, it seemed as if every fourth or fifth tree had thus been burnt. [...] Upon mentioning this I found that it had been noticed in elm avenues and groups a hundred miles distant, so that it is not a local circumstance.</blockquote>

Earlier still, Rackham noted, "The name ''Scolytus destructor'' was given to the great bark beetle on evidence, dating from c. 1780, that it was destroying elms around Oxford."<ref>Oliver Rackham, ''The History of the Countryside'' (London 1986), pp. 242–243, 232</ref>

In Belgium, elm die-back and death was observed in 1836 and 1896 in [[Brussels]], and in 1885–1886 in [[Ghent]]. In the later outbreaks the die-back was attributed to the elm bark beetle.<ref>{{cite journal|editor-first=D.A.|editor-last=Burdekin|journal=Forestry Commission Bulletin (Research on Dutch Elm Disease in Europe)|number=60|last1=Meulemans|first1=M.|last2=Parmentier|first2=C.|publisher=HMSO|location=London|date=1983|title=Studies on ''Ceratocystis ulmi'' in Belgium|pages=86–95|url=http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/FCBU060.pdf/$FILE/FCBU060.pdf#page=96|access-date=15 February 2017|archive-date=15 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215025124/http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/FCBU060.pdf/$FILE/FCBU060.pdf#page=96|url-status=dead}}</ref>

It has been suggested that "for thousands of years elms have flourished in natural balance with the ''scolytidae'', combating occasional infections of Dutch elm disease."<ref>Vaclav Vetvička, ''Trees and Shrubs'' (London 1985)</ref>

Sir [[Thomas Browne]], writing in 1658, noted in ''[[The Garden of Cyrus]]'' an elm disease that was spreading through English hedgerows, and described symptoms reminiscent of DED.<ref>Oliver Rackham, ''The History of the Countryside'' (London 1986), p.242-3</ref>