XV. 2. THE WHITE ASH. 335 



by the minute, jagged calyx, and expanding upwards into a 

 flattened wing, two or three lines broad, rounded or rarely 

 notched at the extremity. 



The flowers appear in May, before the opening of the leaves, 

 and the keys are mature in August and September, about which 

 time the leaves turn to an olive or olive purple. The keys 

 often remain on the tree through the winter. 



The white ash is found in every part of the State and on 

 every kind of ground, but flourishes best in a deep, loamy soil, 

 near the banks of a river or in a moist meadow. "By the 

 banks of sweet and crystal rivers and streams," like the Eng- 

 lish ash, it is observed to thrive infinitely. It is sometimes seen 

 nestling among rocks, where it can hardly get foot-hold, and is 

 frequent on the steep sides of the Hoosic mountains. In swamps, 

 it gives place to the black ash. In the old forests, in the narrow 

 valleys in the western part of the State, it towers to a great 

 height. Not unfrequently, it may be found one hundred feet 

 high and more, with a diameter of four feet and upwards. Six- 

 teen years ago, an ash was felled in Granville, which was rived 

 into three thousand rake-stalks. It was four and a half feet in 

 diameter, and had a shaft of seventy feet without a limb. It 

 grew on the land of Zelotes Robinson, now of Blandford. 

 Standing by itself, the ash rarely attains a great height. There 

 is, growing at the corner where the road from Hingham Plain to 

 Cobasset unites with that from the Old Colony House, an an- 

 cient tree, which measured, in July, 1839, four feet two inches 

 through, at four and a half feet from the gronnd, and four feet 

 eight inches just below the branches. At seven or nine feet 

 from the surface, ten large branches go off, horizontally, or with 

 a slight inclination upwards, forming a broad space above them, 

 on which seats have been placed. 



The ash has been called the painters tree. It is, at least, 

 while young, remarkable for its gracefulness, for the light and 

 easy sweep of its branches, and for the softness and mellow 

 green of its foliage. It produces a fine effect in contrast with 

 the darker woods, and should, on that account, always have a 

 place, were it the object to exhibit the various beauty of the 

 forest trees. Its leaf comes out late, and, although beautiful 



