VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 197 



OLIVE FAMILY 



THE ASHES 



The olive family takes its name from the olive tree of Asia. The only 

 representatives among our native trees are the ashes ; but several of the 

 commonly planted ornamental shrubs, the lilacs and other syringas, and 

 the beautiful forsythia, belong to this family. 



The individual flowers of the ashes are small. But the crowded 

 clusters in which they appear before the leaves are quite conspicuous. 

 The flowers are of two kinds, the pollen producing and the seed bearing 

 being on separate trees. The ashes, like the maples, have prominently 

 winged fruits, but those of the ash hang singly whereas the maple " keys " 

 are always in pairs. 



The ashes are among the most useful of the hard wood forest trees of 

 America, yielding to the oaks alone in value. Two species, the 

 black and the white, occur commonly throughout the state ; the red 

 and the green ash are restricted or local in their distribution. The latter 

 two are very similar and intermediate forms connect them so closely that 

 some authorities rate the green as but a variety of the red. In using the 

 the following key it is to be observed that the ash leaf is compound, that is, 

 each leaf is divided into from seven to eleven smaller leaflets, as will be seen 

 by examining any of the figures. 



Lateral leaflets sessile (i. e., without distinct stalks) Black Ash 



Lateral leaflets with distinct stalks. 



Buds, young shoots and leaf-stalka covered with fine velvety hairs Red Ash 



Buds, young shoots and leaf-stalks, smooth. 



Leaves paler or downy beneath White Ash 



Leaves smooth and bright green on both sides Green Ash 



white ash. Fraxinus Americana Linn. 



The white ash occurs in all parts of the state, and upon all kinds of soil, 

 but it prefers a rich, moist location. It is an open spreading tree in the 

 field but in the forest it sends up a clean, straight shaft with a very 

 sm all head. This character helps to make thewhite ash one of the valuable 

 timber trees of our forests. The wood is strong, tough, elastic, durable 

 and easily worked. It is manufactured into casings, every kind of furni- 

 ture, agricultural implements, and parts of carriages. It is said that in 



