400 FRAXINUS AMERICANA 
south of it. In the upper part of New Hampshire, it is always accompanied by 
the white elm, (Ulmus americana,) yellow birch, (Betula excelsa,) white maple, 
(Acer eriocarpum,) hemlock spruce, (Abies canadensis,) and the black spruce 
(Abies nigra) ; and in New Jersey, it is mingled with the red maple, (Acer 
rnbrum,) shell-bark hickory, (Carya alba,) and the sycamore-tree (Platanus 
occidentalis.) 
This species was first introduced into Britain by Mark Catesby, in 1723; and, 
in about the year 1S26, when Cobbett became a nurseryman, and strongly recom- 
mended various kinds of American trees, several plantations of the white ash 
were formed, in different parts of England; but a sufficient time has not yet 
elapsed to judge of the value of the tree, as compared with the common European 
ash. In the neighbourhood of London, young trees are generally more or less 
injured by the spring frosts ; nevertheless, in Surrey, at St. Ann's Hill, there is a 
specimen, which, in thirty-six years after planting, had attained the height of 
thirty-three feet. 
In France, at Clairvault, there is a tree of this species, which had attained the 
height of thirty feet, in thirty years after planting. 
In Russia, the American ash, and several of its varieties, are planted in the 
government garden, at Odessa, and it is stated by M. le Chevalier Descemet, 
conseiller de cour, that they have the great advantage of prospering in soils 
where the European ash will languish. "They are not," says he, "like Frax- 
inus excelsior, subject to lose their leaves by the ravages of the insect Cantharis 
vesicatoria, in the middle of summer, and may, consequently, be planted in the 
neighbourhood of dwelling-houses. They resist the burning heats of summer 
much better than the European ash-tree, and maintain a deep-green foliage during 
the hottest weather, when that of the common ash becomes pale, and very fre- 
quently withers and drops." "In short, the American ash-trees," he adds, 
"deserve to be extensively cultivated in forests, in lines for bordering roads, and 
in small groups in parks and pleasure-grounds." 
It is stated by Mr. John Pearson, in a communication to Dr. James Meas;?, in 
the " Memoirs of the Philadelphia Society for promoting Agriculture," for the 
year 1807, that, in Wayne county, Pennsylvania, there were white ash-trees five 
feet in diameter, and from fifty to eighty feet in length. 
Soil, Situation, Propagation, fyc. The most favourite situations of the Frax- 
inus americana are the banks of rivers and streams, the edges or acclivities of 
swamps, where the soil is deep and fertile, and intermingled with the fragments 
of rocks. The propagation and culture of this tree is the same as that of the 
European species. 
Insects, Accidents, fyc. The Fraxinus americana, like its European congener, 
is but little subject to accidents and to the attacks of insects. The only insects 
that prove particularly injurious to this tree, are the larvae or borers of the Tro- 
chilium denudatum, described by Dr. Harris, in " Silliman's Journal of Science," 
and also in his " Report on the Insects of Massachusetts injurious to Vegetation." 
These borers perforate the bark and the sap-wood of the trunk of the ash, from 
the roots upwards, and are also found in all the branches of any considerable 
size. The trees thus infested soon show symptoms of disease, in the death of 
the branches near the summit; and when these insects become numerous, the 
trees no longer increase in size and height, and premature decay and death ensue. 
These insects assume the chrysalis form in June and July, when they may be 
seen projecting half way out of their round holes in the bark of the trees, duriug 
which months, their final transformation is effected, when they burst forth, and 
escape in the winged state. 
Properties and Uses. The wood of the white ash, in young, thrifty trees, is 
very white from the bark to the centre: but in large, old trees, the heart- wood is 
