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HARDWOOD RECORD 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES. 



Black Ash.* 



Frdximis nigra — Marsli. 



Asli of various kinds is widely distributed 

 over the temperate regions of the northern 

 hemisphere. The tree has occupied a position 

 second only to that of oak. The ancient Teu- 

 tons relied upon this wood for material for 

 their boats and weapons. The ancient Teu- 

 tonic faith connected ash with the creation 

 of the original man, and it is often 

 associated with oak in bucolic pro- 

 verbs. A tradition, old in Pliny's 

 time, is that serpents avoid ash 

 trees; and another is that ash is 

 particularly liable to be struck by 

 lightning. While in America ash 

 is valued chiefly for its utilitarian 

 purposes, throughout all Europe it 

 is highly esteemed for ornamental 

 purposes. 



Ash and oak resemble each other 

 in that there are bands of open 

 pores in both woods, but the pitli 

 rays of ash are thinner and scarce- 

 ly discernible. Ash is coarser, less 

 attractive, easier to work, tough, 

 elastic, and somewhat lighter than 

 oak; it seasons well but does not 

 last wnen exposed to the weather. 

 A.sh is separated into two general 

 classes, white ash and black ash, 

 although there are upwards of 

 thirty distinct varieties of the two 

 woods. This commercial distinction 

 is also generally a botanical one in 

 the northern part of this country, 

 where the only species of any note 

 are the white ash and the black ash 

 — the Fraxinvs Americana and the 

 Fraximus nigra. It is of this latter 

 and perhaps less highly esteemed 

 variety that this chapter will treat. 



The range of growth of black ash 

 is from the northern shores of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence and New- 

 foundland, to Manitoba, and from 

 there southward to Delaware, the 

 mountains of Virginia, southern Illi- 

 nois, central Missouri, and north- 

 western Arkansas. It is generally 

 known as black ash, but in Ver- 

 mont, New York, Delaware, Ohio, 

 Illinois and Indiana, it is often re- 

 ferred to as hoop ash; in New 

 Hampshire and Tennessee as brown 

 ash; in Vermont, Ehode Island 

 and New York as swamp ash; in 

 West Virginia, Tennessee and Indi- 

 ana as water ash. 



The black ash is of the olive family 

 shape the head is narrow, slender, and the 

 branches are upright. In height it ranges 

 from thirty to ninety feet or even higher. 

 Its time of bloom is in April and May, and 

 it fruits in July and August. 



The bark of the black ash is dark, tinged 

 with gray; rough and broken into irregular 



SEVEN TH PAPER. 



plates, becoming smooth; the branches are 

 marked with white, wart-like dots. The leaf 

 buds are bluish black. The leaves are twelve 

 to sixteen inches long, compound, opposite, 

 odd pinnate; have grooved stalks with from 

 seven to eleven broadly lanceolate, sessile 

 leaflets, taper pointed at the apex, and nar- 

 row or rounded at the base; sharply and ir- 

 regularly serrate; deep green and glabrous 



PICAL DLACK ASH, FOREST GROWTH, NORTHERN 

 MICHIGAN. 



In 



on the upper side; paler below and slightly 

 pubescent along the whitish nbs. The flow- 

 ers are dioecious, growing in long panicles, 

 appearing before the leaves; the samaras 

 arc oblong, blunt at both ends and winged 

 all around. 



As early as March one may begin to find 

 the blue-black buds of the black ash tree. 

 The cold of early spring does not seem to 



hinder their development. The tree is found 

 further northward than any other of the 

 American ashes. It is essentially a swamp 

 growth, as it thrives best on wet soil. The 

 tree does not ordinarily withstand trans- 

 planting. As soon as the frost touches the 

 leaves in the early autumn, they turn a rusty 

 brown and begin to fall, emitting an odor 

 similar to that of elder. 



The light brownish wood has a 

 beautiful grain and is heavy, al- 

 tliough not very strong. It was a 

 favorite with the Indians, who 

 knew it well, and utilized the pliant 

 young saplings for making baskets. 

 The dark broVvu color of the 

 heart wood is changed to a light 

 brown to nearly white in the sap 

 wood. The grain is coarse and the 

 structure is compact. The medul- 

 lary rays are numerous and thin. 

 In structural qualities the wood 

 separates easily into layers and is 

 rather soft and heavy, tough and 

 elastic. 



The representative uses of the 

 wood may be defined as general in 

 the furniture trade, interior finish, 

 liarrel hoops, splint baskets and 

 chair bottoms. The weight of the 

 seasoned wood is estimated at 

 thirty-nine pounds per cubic foot. 

 One feature of black ash quite 

 frequently encountered, is excres- 

 cences known as burls. The dis- 

 torted and involved grain in these 

 burls causes them to be prized for 

 veneers. 



In grade of hardness black ash 

 compares with beech and chestnut. 

 It lias neither odor nor taste. It 

 burns well and quietly. Its embers 

 glow in still air, and heat expels 

 from the wood an orange-red juice. 

 Even in the ranges of growth 

 known as black ash sections, this 

 tree rarely constitutes ten per cent 

 of the forest, and usually the dis- 

 tribution is very scattering. Black 

 ash is becoming very scarce, and its 



J complete extinction as an original 

 forest growth in the United States 

 is fast approaching. 



There is some truth in the leg- 

 ends of tlie ancients concerning 

 black ash. To many other varieties 

 of trees of the forest it is a ver- 

 itable pariah. The writer has 

 seen a black ash and a white pine struggling 

 for existence side by side, and while the ash 

 thrived, the entire foliage of the white pine 

 nearest its neighbor was blasted as thougli 



•Authorities Quotert in the toregolni; article 

 are "The Timbers of Commerce," "Guide to tlie 

 Trees." "Frinclpal Species of Wood." and 

 "Check List of the Forest Trees of the United 

 States." 



