1220 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART Ill. 
spersed with, or surrounded by, numerous trees in hedgerows, the leaves, 
after dropping in the autumn, communicate a bitter taste to the water both 
in the ditches and ponds, and possibly, also, to the milk of cows; but this 
does not hold good more with respect to the ash than to other trees : indeed, 
the most objectionable is the oak, the leaves of which, in autumn, give a 
decidedly bitter taste both to water and milk. Our correspondent Mr. 
Sydney of Cowpen, near Morpeth, who lives in a country where the ash tree 
is more abundant than any other tree, says, “‘ The statement made by several 
writers, that butter made from the milk of cows which have eaten ash leaves 
has a disagreeable taste, is certainly not founded in fact. Much excellent 
butter is made in this neighbourhood, on farms where it would be impossible 
to prevent the cows from feeding upon the leaves of the ash; and yet I have 
never met with a farmer’s wife or dairy-woman, in the neighbourhood of 
Morpeth, who had ever heard of the supposed injury done to butter.” The 
Arabian, as well as the Greek and Roman, physicians highly extol the medi- 
cinal properties of the seed, which the Latins named /ingua avis, bird’s tongue, 
from some supposed resemblance. It is said to be good for the dropsy, stone, 
and many other diseases. M. De Perthuis states that the sap of the ash is 
an excellent remedy for the gangrene, For this purpose, the sap is extracted 
from the leaves by maceration ; and from the green wood by putting one end 
of a branch or truncheon of it into the fire, and gathering the sap, as it rises 
from the other end, with a spoon. A decoction of the bark, or of the leaves, 
has been used as a tonic; and an infusion of the leaves as an aperient. The 
ash keys, which have an aromatic, though rather bitter, flavour, were formerly 
gathered in a green state, and pickled with salt and vinegar, to be sent to table 
as a sauce, or, as Evelyn expresses it, “ as a delicate salading.” In Siberia, 
the keys are infused in the water used for drinking, to give it an agreeable 
flavour. 
The Use of the Ash in Plantations has been objected to on account of the 
injury which it does to every thing that grows in its shade; but, though we 
admit that this, and its love of shelter, constitute a decided reason why it should 
not be planted in hedgerows, or where it is expected to make profit from 
plants growing under its shade, yet it affords no argument against planting it 
in masses, where the object is the production of timber or coppice-wood. 
As the tree, when standing singly, forms a most ornamental object on a lawn, 
and, though it may impede the growth of the grass, yet does not destroy it, 
there is no reason why the ash should not be admitted into pleasure-grounds, 
as well as the cedar, or any other dense evergreen, under which grass will not 
thrive. It has been observed, that female and hermaphrodite trees, from the 
quantity of seeds which they produce, never exhibit such a handsome clothing 
of foliage as the male trees; and hence, in some situations, where an orna- 
mental ash tree is wanted, it may be desirable to make sure of a male by 
rafting. 
The Ash, with reference to picturesque Beauty, is thus characterised by 
Gilpin : —“* The ash generally carries its principal stem higher than the oak 
and rises in an easy flowing line; but its chief beauty consists in the light- 
ness of its whole appearance. Its branches, at first, keep close to the trunk, 
and form acute angles with it ; but, as they begin to lengthen, they generally 
take an easy sweep; and the looseness of the leaves corresponding with 
the lightness of the spray, the whole forms an elegant depending foliage. 
Nothing can have a better effect than an oldash hanging from the corner of a 
wood, and bringing off the heaviness of the other foliage with its loose. 
pendent branches: and yet, in some soils, I have seen the ash lose much of 
its beauty in the decline of age. Its foliage becomes rare and meagre; and 
its branches, instead of hanging loosely, often start away in disagreeable 
forms. In short, the ash often loses that grandeur and beauty in old age 
which the generality of trees, and particularly the oak, preserve till a late 
period of their existence. The ash also, on another account, falls under the 
displeasure of the picturesque eye. Its leaf is much tenderer than that of 
