EUROPEAN ASH-TREE. 391 
catoria, a beetle of a beautiful golden-green, with black antenna-, which devours 
them with avidity. The ash is no sooner covered with leaves, than they are 
attacked by such a number of cantharides, or Spanish flies, thai the trees, during 
the remainder of the summer, have a dismal appearance; and, though the 
insect which devours the leaves may please the eye by its elegant form, and its 
colours of green and gold, yet it spreads abroad a smell which is so disagreeable, 
that it causes the common ash to be excluded from our forests, where the flower- 
ing ash, and some of the American species, are alone introduced." .M. Pirolle, 
in the " Bon Jardinier," states that, "even when the cantharides are dead on the 
trees, they become dried to a powder, which it is difficult to pass without inhal- 
ing. The particles of this powder, being parts of those flies that cause the Mis- 
tering of the skin when a blister-plaster is applied, are, of course, dangerous 
to persons who inhale them; and, on this account, ash-trees are seldom planted 
near villages in France." Mr. Mumby, in a paper in the London " Magazine 
of Natural History," states that he saw "an ash-tree overhanging the road near 
Dijon, so crowded with the Cantharis vesicatoria, that the excrement of the 
insects literally blackened the ground." On passing underneath the tree, he felt 
his face as if bitten by gnats, and smelt a most disagreeable sickening odour, 
"which extends," says he, "twenty or thirty yards from the tree, according to 
the direction of the wind." These insects make their appearance, in the south 
of Europe about mid-summer, more particularly on the ash, privet, and lilac, on 
the leaves of which they feed. Fortunately, they are not very numerous in Eng- 
land; but in Russia, according to Pallas, the cantharides abound on the Lonicera 
tatarica, and are collected from that plant in great quantities for the apothecaries. 
In a living state, the young branches of the ash are frequently attacked by a 
small scaly insect, (Chermes,) which, feeding on the sap, often throws the tree 
into a decline. The decayed wood of the ash, as well as that of many other trees, 
is devoured by the larvas of the Dorcus parallelopipedus, and the Sinodendron 
cylindricum. It has been observed, that, when wood-peckers are seen tapping the 
ash and other timber-trees, they ought to be cut down, as these birds never 
attempt to make holes in a tree, till it is in a state of decay. 
Properties and Uses. The timber of the ash is exceedingly elastic; so much 
so, according to Tredgold, that a joist of it will sustain more weight before it 
will break, than one of any other European tree. When green, it weighs about 
sixty-four and a half pounds to a cubic foot, and about forty-nine and a half 
pounds when dry. The value of the timber is increased by the rapidity ol' its 
growth; and, as in the case of the Castanea vesca, (sweet chesnut.) the wood of 
the young trees is more esteemed than that of old ones. The texture of the wood 
is alternately compact and porous; and, where the growth has been vigorous, the 
compact part of the annual layers bears a greater proportion to the porous, and 
the timber is comparatively more tough, elastic, and durable. In durability, 
however, and also in rigidity, it is inferior to that of the oak ; but it is superior to 
that wood, in toughness and elasticity; and hence its universal employment in 
all those parts of machinery which have to sustain sudden shocks: such as the 
circumference teeth, and spokes of wheels, beams, ploughs, &c .* Since the use of 
iron has become so general in the manufacture of implements and machines, the 
value of the ash is somewhat diminished ; still, however, it ranks next in ralue 
to the oak, and is held even to surpass it for some purposes. It is much in use 
by the coach-maker, the wheelwright, and the manufacturer of agricultural imple- 
ments; and is also much used for making oars, blocks for pulleys, lV<'. Ii is 
highly valued for kitchen tables, as it may be better scoured than any other 
wood, and is not so liable to run splinters into the fingers of the scourer. For 
the same reason, it was formerly much used in England for staircases and. m 
* See Tredgold's Carpentry. 
