ASH 139 



also for timber for building and other uses, so that if 

 we had not Coales from New-castle and Boards from 

 Norwey we should be brought to great extremity, and 

 many Mechanickes would be necessitated to leave their 

 callings." 



In scientific nomenclature the ash is the Fraxinus 

 excelsior. The generic title, as we have seen from 

 the line from Virgil, is its old Latin appellation. Hence 

 it is still in Italy the frassino, in Spain the fresno, in 

 Portugal the freixo, while in France it is the frine. Our 

 English name descends to us from the Anglo-Saxon ^sc. 

 It is . in Germany the esche^ in Denmark the aske-tr/e, 

 and in Sweden the ask-tr'dd. It is curious to observe 

 how all the southern names spring from one derivation, 

 while all the northern names have another common 

 parentage. This double grouping is only what might 

 have been clearly anticipated, but it is nevertheless in- 

 teresting to take note of it. 



One striking feature in the ash is the curiously sooty 

 blackness of the buds ; this characteristic alone would suffice 

 to identify the tree while yet leafless. It will be recalled 

 how Tennyson, whose Nature-touches are so numerous, 

 so appreciative, so admirable, and so true, declares of one 

 of his heroines that her hair was blacker even than the 

 ash-buds of March. 



The foliage of the ash is of a light and bright green 

 that often causes a very pleasant contrast with the 

 surrounding trees. The leaves are what is termed 

 pinnate, or feather-like, a central stem having a terminal 

 leaflet, and other leaflets in pairs below it. The leaves 

 of the ash have two great drawbacks : they appear so 



