336 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



while it lasts, and turning to a rich, mellow, olive purple, for 

 some time before it falls, it falls early. It should not often, 

 therefore, stand alone, in a conspicuous place, but in a corner 

 among other trees. 



The wood is white, and remarkable for its toughness and 

 elasticity. For these qualities, it is used for hoops, for handles 

 of pitch-forks and rakes, and for the shafts and springs of wag- 

 ons and other carriages. It is used to make oars, in preference 

 to any other wood. The oars, already made, are brought to 

 Boston, from the Penobscot and Kennebec Rivers, in Maine. 

 They are made of forest ash, which is considered lighter and 

 more springy than any other. It is also used for ship's blocks, 

 for which purpose, it is wrought in a green state, as it is then 

 almost as soft as pine. It is used for the boxes of pumps, almost 

 exclusively. White ash, from Maine, is used, for its superior 

 softness, for the bodies, brackets, sills and pillars of carriages; 

 a tougher variety, from the interior or from the west, being pre- 

 ferred for shafts, springs and bars, requiring strength. Lance- 

 wood alone, as more elastic and strong than ash, is preferred 

 for carriage shafts. Ash is also used for sofa frames and chair 

 frames, for backs and bottoms, for staves for inferior casks in- 

 tended for dry articles, and for bowls. 



The leaves and branches of the ash are said to be so offensive 

 and perhaps poisonous to serpents, that they will not come nigh 

 them. The leaf is also said to give relief in case of a bite from 

 poisonous serpents. This property is of small consequence in 

 New England, where poisonous serpents are few, and probably 

 confined to the single species of the common rattlesnake. A 

 more important property has been tested. An ash-leaf rubbed 

 upon the swellings caused by mosquitoes, removes the itching 

 and soreness immediately. The same effect is produced on the 

 poison occasioned by the bite of the bee. A decoction of the 

 leaves is said to be an antidote to the poison of lamb-kill, Kalmia 

 angustifolia, when taken by lambs. 



