345 

 THE OAK AND THE ASH. 



" For many years past I have paid no little attention to the lea6ug of the 

 oak and ash and other trees. In 1880, owing to some remarks upon the above 

 subject in a local paper, which were quite contrary to my observations, I then 

 determined to note down in a systematic manner the first appearance of the leaf, 

 and this I have continued to do down to the present year. The results thus 

 obtained, covering a period of ten years, prove that the opinion I then held was 

 well founded. The oak always shows the leaf before the ash. I have never 

 known the ash leaf first. lu 1881 the oak showed leaf six days before the ash ; in 

 1882 five days ; 1883 eight days ; 1884 four days ; 1885 eight days ; 1886 five days ; 

 1887 eight days ; 1888 three days ; 1889 ten days ; 1890 eleven days, aud this year 

 over a fortnight has elapsed between the two trees leafing. In looking over my 

 records, which contain a good deal of other information on the state of the 

 weather, &c., I cannot come to any other conclusion than that expressed above, 

 that the oak always leafs first, and that the weather is not foretold by either the 

 ash, oak, or any other tree, but that they one and all — the ash especially — are 

 very considerably retarded by cold frosty weather in the spring." 



Our own observations^too limited we must confess — ^corroborate in every 

 respect those of Dr. T. A. Chapman. No decision upon this point can be of any 

 value unless it is based upon observations protracted through several years. A 

 corres|X)ndence upon this subject extended through several successive numbers of 

 The Field, commencing in the number for June 14th, 1890. We agree with 

 Rusticus that 



The ash being ojit before the oak 

 Is nothing better than a joke. 



Having sifted the chaff, we extract the following letter as the most conclusive :— 

 It is signed Fletcher Moss (the Old Parsonage, Didsbury), and is to be found on 

 page 982 of T/ic Field, for June 28th, 1890, "As regards the respective times of 

 the oak and the ash coming into leaf, I heard a disputation on the subject thirty 

 years ago. It was then maintained by the closest observers that the oak was 

 always the first, and they had never seen it otherwise. Since that I have taken 

 notice every year, and have proved them to be correct. Trees in special situations 

 may be exceptions. For instance, an ash on a warm southern slope may be earlier 

 than an oak on a cold bleak place, and individual trees of the same sort, though 

 standing together, will often vary ; but on the whole, in this part of the country 

 (say Cheshire) the oak is always the first, and there has been no exception for 

 thirty years, and for a much longer period, according to the witness of reliable 

 observers now living. " 



The Editor of The Field informs us that it requires a higher temperature to 

 bring the ash into leaf than it does to bring the oak. It is therefore a question of 

 temperature, and consequently of situation, or of sheltered or exposed i)ositions. 

 The proper period for peeling oak bark is between the bursting of the 

 buds and the full -leaf, after which the foresters say that "the bark will not go." 



