o-)2 FUAXINUS EXCELM0R. 
many parts of that country, milk-pails are made of thin boards, sawed length- 
wise out of this tree, by rolling them into hollow cylinders, and then affixing a 
bottom to each. From the sonorous properties of the timber of the ash, com- 
bined with strength and elasticity, it is preferred by watchmen, for staves, to 
any other wood. The roots and knotty parts of the trunk of this tree are in 
demand by cabinet-makers, on account of the curious dark figures formed by 
their veins, which make a singular appearance when wrought and polished. 
There are also certain knotty excrescences in the ash, called brusca and mollusca, 
which, when cut and polished, are remarkably beautiful. Evelyn remarks in 
his "Sylva," that "some ash is so curiously cambleted and veined, that skilful 
cabinet-makers prize it equally with ebony, and call it green ebony." The ash 
makes excellent fuel, burning, even when newly cut, with very little smoke ; and 
it is said to be the best of all woods for smoke-drying herrings. Few other tim- 
ber trees in England become useful so soon after planting, it being fit for walk- 
ing-canes at four or five years' growth ; and for handles to spades and other 
implements, at nine or ten years of age. " An ash pole," observes Nicol, " three 
inches in diameter, is as valuable and durable, for any purpose to which it may 
be applied, as the timber of the largest tree." It is particularly valuable for hop- 
poles, hoops, crates, handles to baskets, rods for training plants, forming bowers, 
for light hurdles, and for wattling fences. In Staffordshire, in the neighbourhood 
of potteries, the ash is cultivated to a great extent, and cut every five or six 
years for crate-wood. In Kent, and in various places in the neighbourhood of 
London, the most profitable application of the young ash is for walking-canes, 
plant-rods, hoops, and hop-poles. For the latter purpose, coppice-woods are cut 
over every twelve or fourteen years, according to the nature of the soil ; and, for 
the former purposes, every five or seven years. The ashes of the branches and 
shoots of this tree afford a very good potash. The bark is used for tanning nets 
and calf-skins. With the sulphate of iron, it imparts a green or greenish-black ; 
with the salts of alum, a yellow; and with the acetate of copper, a clear olive- 
green colour. In many parts of continental Europe, the ash is formed into 
hedges, and its leaves serve for feeding cattle in autumn, winter, and spring. The 
leaves and shoots, eaten by cows, are said to give the milk and butter a rank 
taste; but this does not appear to have been considered a great evil by the 
Romans, as they recommend the leaves of this tree for fodder next to those of 
the elm; and Mr. Sydney, of Cowpen, near Morpeth, in Northumberlandshire, 
who lives in a country where the ash is more abundant than any other tree, says, 
in a communication to Mr. Loudon, that, "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." Medicinally, the 
leaves, bark, seeds, and wood of this tree, are sudorific, diuretic, and febrifugal ; 
the bark having acquired the name of the " cinchona of Europe." The Arabian, 
as well as the Greek and Roman physicians, highly extolled the medicinal vir- 
tues of the seed, which, it is said, is 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 it is extracted from the leaves by macera- 
tion ; and from the green wood by putting one end of a branch or truncheon into 
the fire, and gathering the sap in a spoon as it oozes out from the other end. A 
decoction of the bark, or of the leaves, has been used as a tonic ; and an infusion 
of the leaves as an aperient, and as a purgative. They have also been employed 
in England in adulterating tea. 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 the 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 what is there considered an agreeable flavour. The leaves 
