AMERICAN ASH-TRKE. 
397 
ieni 
ion. 
spikes, as the annual layers readily separate, by repeated blows, or by freqi 
bending In Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the northern states of the un 
it is preferred to the white ash for hoops; and, as the concentric layers readily 
yield by mailing, they are separated into long strips, often as thin as a wafer 
which are much used in the country in the manufacture of baskets, corn-riddles' 
and sometimes for the bottoms of chairs. The wood of this variety is more 
liable than any other to be disfigured with knobs or wens, which are sometimes 
of considerable size, and are detached from the body of the tree, and made into 
trays or bowls. The wood of these excrescences has the advantage of superior 
solidity, and when carefully polished, exhibits very singular undulations of fibre 
and might be profitably employed by cabinet-makers and other manufacturers 
of fancy work. This sort, like most other kinds of ash, is particularly prolific in 
potash. 
5. F. a. sambucifolia crispa. Crisp-leaved Elder-leaved American Ash, having 
curled leaves. 
6. F. a. quadrangulata. Quadrangular-branched American Ash; Frasinus 
quadrangulata, of Michaux, Don, Loudon, and others; Frhie quadra ng via ire, 
Frene bleu, of the French; Blue Ash, of the Anglo-Americans. This variety, in 
favourable situations, often attains a height of 
sixty or seventy feet, with a diameter of fifteen or 
twenty inches. The bark of the trunk cracks 
and separates into thin plates much in the 
same manner as that of the white oak (Quer- 
cus alba.) The leaves are from twelve to 
eighteen inches long, and are composed of from 
two to four pairs of leaflets, terminated by an 
odd one. The leaflets are almost sessile, ellip- 
tic-lanceolate, distinctly toothed, smooth on 
the upper surface, and downy beneath. The 
branches are quadrangular; and the young 
shoots to which the leaves are attached, are 
distinguished by four opposite membranes, 
nearly one third of an inch broad, that are of 
a greenish colour, and extend through their 
entire length. This character disappears in 
the third or fourth year, leaving only the traces of its existence. The flowers, 
which put forth in May, are succeeded by samaras that are flat from one extrem- 
ity to the other, and blunt at both ends, but a little narrowed towards the base. 
The blue ash is chiefly found in Tennessee, Kentucky, and the southern pari ol 
Ohio, where the climate is mild, and the soil fertile in an extreme degree. This 
fertility seems to serve as a substitute for that degree of moisture, which, in the 
Atlantic states, appears to be indispensable to the growth of the ash. The wood 
of this tree possesses the characteristic properties of the genus; and, of all the 
varieties of the western states, it is the most extensively employed, and tin 1 mosl 
highly esteemed. Besides the habitual use that is made of it for the frames ol 
carriages, and for the felloes of wheels, agricultural implements. \i-., it is i_ r <ii'i- 
ally selected for the flooring of houses, and frequently for their exterior covering; 
and, where the tulip-tree, (Liriodendron,) does not abound, it sometimes serves 
for the shingles of their roofs. It is said that a blue colour may be extracted 
from the bark of this tree; from which circumstance, probably, it derives its com- 
mon name. It was introduced into Britain in 1 s i:;. and is to be met with in 
many of the European and American collections. 
7. F. a. quadrangulata nervosa. Conspicuous-nerved-leaved Quadrangular- 
branched American Ash. 
