74 THE NEW METHOD 



or canal of the same color as the point. There is also 

 a very long, narrow canal formed by the base curv- 

 ing outward. There is, near this canal, what seems 

 to be another canal. This is made by the lower edge 

 of the outer lip curving backward and inward." 



The Fraxinus Americana. 



" The Fraxinus Americana, or common white ash, 

 is a very beautiful tree. When young it is of a very 

 graceful shape, but when old it is rather stiff. It 

 grows best at about the same place as the hemlock 

 spruce, but the very best place for them is on the 

 banks of the Penobscot, Kennebec, Androscoggin, 

 Merrimac, Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, and Sus- 

 quehanna rivers. The tallest are found as high as 

 eighty feet, and three feet in diameter, sometimes 

 growing as high as fifty or sixty feet without a limb. 

 They are found as far south as the hemlock spruce, 

 about as far south as the Middle States reach. 



" The bark is rather thick and on the outside it is 

 quite rough. The outer bark is of different shades of 

 brown and gray, and there are a great many lichens 

 on it. The inner bark is of an orange brown color 

 and the layers are easily seen. It has rather a 

 spicy odor. 



"The heart- wood of the white ash is a very little 

 darker than the sap-wood. The color of the wood is 



