HISTORY OF THE LINDEN AND ASH 1()5 



Next to spruce ash is the most important wood used in aero- 

 plane construction. It enters into frames, outriggers, skids, 

 rudders and propellers. As recently as 1914 this use amounted 

 to less than one-one-hundredth of 1% of the annual cut, but at 

 the present time this percentage must be very much greater. 

 Ash, chiefly black ash, enters largely into bent frame parts as 

 well as for slats and splints in basketry. The early settlers m 

 New England learned from the Indians who were accomplished 

 in this handiwork the art of making baskets that lasted a life- 

 time of ash splints and strips. 



The production of Chinese or Insect white wax (Peh-la) is, 

 next to agriculture or sericulture, the most important industry in 

 certain parts of China (Szechuan). This wax is deposited by a 

 scale insect on a species of ash {Fraxinus chinensis). The in- 

 sects are bred on a privet {Lihustrum lucidum) which does not 

 grow in the immediate vicinity of the ash plantations so that the 

 eggs must be carried rapidly by coolies a distance of over 150 

 miles to the ash plantations. This wax is highly valued by the 

 natives and since it does not melt until temperatures around 180° 

 are reached it makes valuable candles, but its value is such that 

 it is usually used merely for outer coatings. It is also used for 

 coating pills, polishing jade, soapstone and delicate furniture, 

 or as a size to give a lustre to cloth. Its most extensive use is 

 for glossing the high grade papers of native manufacture. A 

 somewhat remotely comparable product is obtained from the 

 Manna ash {Fraxinus ornus) of Mediterranean Europe. This is 

 the manna of commerce and is not a true wax but a secretion 

 whose chief constituent is mannite or manna sugar. It is ob- 

 tained in commercial quantities entirely from Sicily and unlike 

 the Chinese wax it is not due to the activity of scale insects but 

 is obtained by making incisions in the bark. It is thus not re- 

 lated to the manna of the Scriptures, which was due to the 

 punctures of scale insects working on Tamarix trees. 



There are upwards of fifty existing species of ash and they are 

 widely distributed throughout the temperate regions of Eurasia 

 and North America, extending into the Tropics in both the East- 

 ern (Java) and the Western (Cuba) Hemispheres. Their gen- 



