390 FKAXINUS EXCELSIOK. 



Propu^dtion and Ciil/iirc. The species is always pr(ip:ii:;te(l by seeds, and the 

 varitMies hv mal'tiiii; or htuMiiii; on ilic sp(M-ies. Tlit^ seeds should be yalbered 

 as soon as they are ripe, antl taken lo the rottnii^-gronnd, where tbey should be 

 mixed with liL'ht, sandy earth, and laid in a (hit heap, not ninrr tliaii ! n niches 

 thick, in ordi'r to prevent them iVoni heatini>;. Here they should he tinned over 

 several times in the course of the winter; and, as early as the u;round will j)er- 

 luit. in the spring, they may be removed, freed from the sand by sifting, and 

 s.)wu in beds in a mitUlling soil. The richness or (luality of the soil, Sang 

 observes, is of little conseipience ; but it should be W(>11 broken by the rake, and 

 tlie situation should be open, to prevent the plants from being drawn up loo slen- 

 der. The seeds may be de]iosited at the distance of half an inch (!very way, and 

 covered about a quarter of an iiu'h dee|) witli soil. The plants may be taken up 

 at the end of the first season, and planted in nursery lines; and at the end of tlie 

 second year, they may be removed to where they are fmally to remain. If 

 planted in a good soil, they will grow rapidly when young, attaining a jjcight of 

 lifteen feet and upwards, in ten years. When cultivated as a coppice-wood, the ash 

 will continue throwing up shoots from stools or pollards for more than a century. 

 The most prolitahle age for felling its timber, appears to be from eighty to one 

 hundred years. The drip of the ash is injurious to the vegetation of almost every 

 other plant ; and, when planted in cultivated fields, from its numerous fibrous 

 roots, which run close to the surface, a certain portion of the land around it is 

 rendered unproductive. The use of the ash in plantations, therefore, has been 

 objected to on this account; although, it is admitted that this, and its love of 

 shelter, constitute a decided reason why it should not be planted in hedge-rows, 

 or where it is expected to derive profit from plants growing under its shade, yet 

 it affords no argument against planting it in masses, where the object is the pro- 

 duction of timber or coppice-wood. As the tree, when standing singly, forms a 

 most ornamental object on a lawn, and, though it may impede the growth of 

 grass, yet does not destroy it, there is no reason why the ash should not be 

 admitted into pleasure-grounds, as well as the cedar, or any other dense ever- 

 green, under which grass will not thrive. It has been observed, that female and 

 hermaphrodite trees, from the quantity of seeds which they produce, never exhibit 

 such a handsome clothing of foliage as the male trees; and hence, in some situa- 

 tions, where ornament is required, it may be desirable to make sure of a male by 

 grafting. 



Accidents, Diseases, and Insects. When standing alone, the far-extended 

 branches of the ash, are liable to be broken off by high winds ; but, except on 

 unsuitable soils, it is not subject to the canker, or many other diseases. From, 

 too quick an ascent of the sap ; or, as some imagine, from the puncture of an 

 unknown insect in the tender twigs, which diverts the sap from its usual course, 

 the branches of the ash sometimes become twisted and curled into a beautiful 

 ficiated form, resembling a ram's horn, or a crosier. These wreathed excres- 

 cences or facia are sometimes also found in other trees, as the 

 willow, and particularly in the holly. As the ash comes late 

 into leaf, it is by no means so liable to the attacks of insects as 

 the various species of orchard fruits, which put forth early; at 

 least, this is the case in Britain; but, in France, its leaves are 

 liable to be destroyed by the Cantharis vesicatoria, denoted by 

 the adjoining figure; and also by bees, ants, and birds, in the 

 middle of summer. '-If nature had produced the ash for no 

 other purpose than for the embellishment of forests," says a 

 writer in the " Nouveau Du Hamel," "we might almost say 

 that she had failed in her end, or had opposed herself to her own views, m 

 aestining the leaves of that tree to be the food of an insect, Cantharis vesi- 



