Vol. III. No. 24. 



FEBRUARY, I908. 



^IRI5H OARDEININO 



A Monthly Educational Journal devoted to 

 the Advancement of Horticulture in Ireland 



The Ash. 



By ARCHIBALD E. MOERAN. 



FEW people will say that the ash is a par- 

 ticularly ornamental tree, and none, I 

 think, will advocate its advantag^es where 

 shelter is the object ; yet, in its proper place, the 

 ash possesses sterling 

 qualities which com- 

 mand our whole- 

 hearted respect, and, 

 indeed, I think I may 

 say, our affection. 



As an ornamental 

 tree it fails, because 

 it is the last to come 

 into leaf in spring" ; 

 its sparse, pale-green 

 foliage is at no time 

 strikingly handsome, 

 and the first autumn 

 frost that serves to 

 bring out all the red 

 and brown and golden 

 glories of the beech 

 and maple and lime 

 leaves the ash stripped 

 and gaunt to remind 

 us that the long 

 winter is coming three 

 weeks before there is 

 any necessity at all 

 for thinking about 

 such unpleasant 

 things. Of course a 

 hoary old ash with 

 great, grey, lichened 

 trunk and wide 

 gnarled arms is a 

 striking feature in 

 either park or road- 

 side scenery, but more 

 from the contrast it offers to its more graceful 

 neighbours than from any great beauty of its 

 own. 



As a shelter tree it fails, because of this same 

 sparse foliage in summer, and in winter its few 

 branches, with short, blunt twigs, give the 



Twigs of Ash. 



Foliage on summer shoot. 2. Flower cluster on shoot, late spring 

 3. Bunch of fruit or "keys" still hanging on twig. 



minimum of protection from wind and cold. 

 Furthermore, its roots spread very widely and 

 near the surface, feeding from the same strata 

 of soil as the field crops adjoining must depend 



on. The reason we 

 see so much ash 

 grown in hedge-rows 

 is that it is a tree of 

 the most extra- 

 ordinary powers of 

 reproduction, both 

 from seed and from 

 stools, and some few 

 out of the many 

 youngsters find 

 favour in the eyes of 

 the hedge-cutter and 

 are spared. This 

 power of reproduc- 

 tion, far in excess of 

 any other tree we 

 have, is not the least 

 of the good quali- 

 ties possessed by the 

 ash. All over Ire- 

 land, in old woods 

 worn thin, on waste 

 corners and scant 

 hillsides, there are 

 millions upon mil- 

 lions of ash seedlings 

 springing up each 

 year. Often the 

 whole floor of a wood 

 is covered with them 

 as close as heather, 

 but rabbits and cattle 

 and deer graze them 

 down, or worthless 

 scrub or trees as worthless overshadow them, 

 and shut out the light that is the life of the ash, 

 which ranks as one of the most light-demanding 

 species of all forest trees. I presume it is 

 because this volunteer crop is planted by the 

 bountiful hand of Nature, free of charge, that 



