EUROPEAN ASH-TRIE. 391 



catoria, a beetle of a beautiful golden-green, with black antennae, which devours 

 thetn with avidity. The ash is no sooner covered with leaves, than they are 

 attacked by such a niunbcr of cantharides, or Spanish flies, that the trees, during 

 the remainder of the sinnnier, have a dismal appearance; and, though the 

 insect which devours the leaves may please tlie eye by its elegant form, and its 

 colours of green and gold, yet it spreads abroad a smell which is so disagreeable, 

 that it canses the common ash to be excluded from our forests, where the llower- 

 ing ash, and some of the American species, are alone introduced.' M. Pirolle, 

 in the ' Bon Jardinier," states that, "even when the cantharides are dead on the 

 trees, they become dried to a powder, which it is difficult to pass without inhal- 

 ing. The particles of this powder, being parts of those flies that cause the blis- 

 tering of the skin when a blister-plaster is applied, are, of course, dangerous 

 to persons who inhale them; and, on this account, ash-trees are seldom planted 

 near villages in France." Mr. Mumby. in a paper in the London ' Magazine 

 of Natural History," states that he saw "an ash-tree overhanging the road near 

 Dijon, so crowded with the Cauiharis v(;sicatoria, that the excrement of tlu^ 

 insects literally blackened the ground." On passing underneath the tree, he fell 

 his face as if bitten by gnats, and smelt a most disagreeable sickening odour, 

 "which extends," says he, "twenty or thirty yards from the tree, according to 

 the direction of the wind." These insects make their appearance, in the south 

 of Europe about mid-summer, more particularly on the ash, privet, and lilac, on 

 the leaves of which they feed. Fortunately, they are not very numerous in Eng- 

 land; but in Russia, according to Pallas, the cantharides abound on the Lonicera 

 tatarica, and are collected from that plant in great cpiaulities for the apothecaries. 

 In a living state, the young branches of the ash are frequently attacked by a 

 small scaly insect, (Chermes,) which, feeding on the sap, often throws the tree 

 into a decline. The decayed wood of the ash, as well as that of many other tn^es, 

 is devoured by the larvae of the Dorcus parallelopipedus, and the Sinodendron 

 cylindricum. It has been observed, that, when wood-peckers are seen tapping the 

 ash and other timber-trees, they ought to be cut down, as these birds never 

 attempt to make holes in a tree, till it is in a state of decay. 



Properties and Uses. The timber of the ash is exceedingly elastic; so much 

 so, according to Tredgold, that a joist of it will sustain more weight before it 

 will break, than one of any other European tree. When green, it weighs about 

 sixty-four and a half pounds to a cubic foot, and about forty-nine and a half 

 pounds when dry. The value of the timber is increased by the rapidity of its 

 growth ; and, as in the case of the Castanea vesca, (sweet chesnut,) the wood of 

 the young trees is more esteemed than that of old ones. The texture of the wood 

 is alternately compact and porous; and, where the growth has ])een vigorous, the 

 compact part of the annual layers bears a greater proportion to the porous, and 

 the timber is comparatively more tough, elastic, and durable. In durability, 

 however, and also in rigidity, it is inferior to that of the oak ; but it is superior to 

 that wood, in toughness and elasticity: and hence its universal employment in 

 all those })arts of machinery which have to sustain sudden shocks; such as the 

 circumference teeth, and spokes of wheels, beams, ploughs, &c.* Since the use of 

 iron has become so general in the manufacture of implements and machines, the 

 value of the ash is somewhat diminished; still, however, it ranks next in value 

 to the oak, and is held even to surpass it for sonic purposes. It is much in use 

 by the coach-maker, the wheelwright, and the manufacturer of agricultural imjile- 

 ments; and is also much used for making oars, blocks for })iilleys, c^vic. It is 

 highly valued for kitchen tables, as it may be better scoured than any other 

 wood, and is not so liable to run splinters into the fingers of the scourer. For 

 the same reason, it was formerly much used in Ilngland for staircases: and. in 



See Tredgold's Carpentry. 



