DECIDUOUS TREES. 357 



the leaves change to a deep brownish-purple, and it is then, in con- 

 trast with the brighter colors of the maples and other gay-leaved 

 autumn trees, a valuable addition to the landscape. It requires a 

 deep, warm, dry soil. No soil is considered poor or cold on which 

 the white ash grows abundantly, while the black ash is equally 

 noted for being at home in wet ground. We have known large 

 trees of the white ash much injured by excessive cold ; and infer 

 that it will not be a good tree to plant in exposed situations at the 

 north, though usually considered a perfectly hardy tree. 



THE BLACK ASH. F. sambucifolia. A tree of medium size ; 

 from fifty to sixty feet high in the forests, and forty to fifty feet in 

 open ground. Its bark is darker and less deeply furrowed than 

 that of the white ash, and its limbs are less regular in their growth. 

 The foliage is brighter colored, and in damp, open ground, quite as 

 abundant Its autumn foliage has no beauty, and as it comes late 

 in leaf, this variety has no special value for ornamental planting. 



The other varieties of native ash are the F. pubescens, downy 

 ash; the F. quadrangulata, blue ash; the F. juglandiflora, green 

 ash ; the F. caroliniana, Carolina ash ; and the F. platycarpa, broad- 

 fruited ash. The green ash is a large tree with brighter-colored 

 leaves than the other varieties. The characteristics of the others, 

 in open ground, we are not familiar with. A few of the foreign 

 varieties of ash are more interesting for small grounds. 



THE ASH TREES OF ENGLAND are mostly of the species known 

 as the Fraxinus excelsior, which is so nearly the same as our white 

 ash that a description of one will apply to the other. The follow- 

 ing are varieties of the F. excelsior: 



THE WEEPING ASH, Fraxinus excelsior pendula, is occasionally 

 a beautiful tree, with a decidedly picturesque and rambling as well 

 as pendulous habit; but fine specimens are not common in this 

 country. It needs an unusually warm, rich, and deeply-drained 

 soil. We remember one in the old Garden of Plants in Paris, the 

 trunk of which formed the central support of a large summer-house, 

 with branches falling over the thatched roof on all sides, and 

 draping it to the ground with their foliage. It is always grafted on 



