10 THE ASH. 



The white and the red Ash have so nearly the same 

 external characters, that it requires some study to dis- 

 tinguish them. They do not differ in their ramification, 

 nor in their autumnal hues. The black Ash may be 

 readily identified by the leaves, which are sessile, and 

 like those of the elder ; also by the dark bluish color of 

 the buds and newly formed branches, and the slenderness 

 of its proportions. It seldom attains a great height or 

 size, and is chiefly confined to swamps and muddy soils. 

 The wood of this species is remarkable for strength and 

 elasticity. The remarks of George Barnard respecting 

 the localities of the Ash in Europe will apply to the 

 American species : " Though seen everywhere, its favorite 

 haunt is the mountain stream, where its branches hang 

 gracefully over the water, adding much beauty to the 

 scene. It is to be met with in every romantic glen and 

 glade, now clinging with half-covered roots to a steep, 

 overhanging cliff, and breaking with its light, elegant 

 foliage the otherwise too abrupt line, or with its soft 

 warm green relieving the monotonous coloring of the 

 rocks or the sombre gray of some old ruin." 



There are some remarkable superstitions and tradition- 

 ary notions connected with the Ash-tree. The idea that 

 it is offensive, and even fatal, to serpents, is not of modern 

 origin, though not a rustic laborer can be found who 

 would not consider an Ash-tree planted before his house 

 as a charm against their intrusion. According to Pliny, 

 if a serpent be surrounded on one side by fire and on the 

 other by a barricade of the leaves and branches of the 

 Ash-tree, he will escape through the fire, rather than 

 through its fatal boughs. It is related in the Edda that 

 man was first created from the wood of this tree, and it is 

 not improbable that this superstition has some connection 

 with the fable of Adam and Eve, and through this with 

 the supposed antipathy of the serpent for the Ash-tree. 



