196 CONVERSATIONS ON THE 



the colour of the bark, which is quite white. 

 Its height is from sixty to eighty feet, and its 

 thickness from one and a half to three ; the 

 trunk is perfectly straight, and seldom begins 

 to branch out within less than forty feet of 

 the ground. The leaves are about three 

 inches long, oval-shaped, with smooth edges, 

 and a soft delicate surface ; the upper side is 

 green, and the under side whitish ; but this 

 is not the case with the other kinds of 

 ash. The seeds are curious ; they resemble 

 the pod of a pea, but they are not flat the 

 whole of their length ; about half-way they 

 are round, after that they begin to flatten, and 

 at the end they are quite flat like the blade 

 of a knife; they are about two inches and a 

 half long : I cannot think of any thing more 

 like them in shape than a paddle. The round 

 part is green, and the flat part straw-coloured ; 

 and they hang together in bunches of three, 

 four, and five. The wood is reddish, very 

 strong, supple, and tough ; and the uses to 

 which it is put are numerous and very differ- 

 ent. The shafts of gigs and carriages are 

 almost always made of white ash ; in New- 

 York and Philadelphia it is used for the 

 frames of carriages, and for the felloes or rims 



