BLUE ASH 266 



on fertile limestone hills, but can be found on lower but 

 rich ground. It is nowhere abundant. 



Sometimes the tree grows to a height of one hundred 

 and fifteen feet, with a diameter of three feet, but such di- 

 mensions are unusual. A height of seventy-five feet and 

 diameter of two feet are more commonly found. The thick- 

 ness of its annual rings shows it to be a fairly rapid grower, 

 especially during the first seventy-five to one hundred years 

 of its life. It is light-demanding, and when crowded throws 

 up a smooth stem, slightly tapering, and free from, limbs 

 for more than half its height. In general appearance it 

 closely resembles the White Ash, mainly differing from 

 that tree in the character of its bark and flowers. Its bark 

 is thinner and separates in large plate-like scales, and its 

 flowers are perfect. 



The heartwood is strong, elastic, hard, and heavy. In 

 color it is light yellow, mottled or streaked with brown, 

 quite like the White Ash, and with very thick but lighter- 

 colored sapwood. The tree frequently reaches the age of 

 seventy-five or eighty years before any heartwood is devel- 

 oped. It is this sapwood that is deemed of superior quality 

 for carriagework, for fork, hoe, rake, and shovel handles, 

 and for agricultural implements generally. It is moderately 

 close-grained, and does not show a very marked distinction 

 between spring and summer wood, and its medullary rays 

 are inconspicuous. It is used for substantially all purposes 

 to which White Ash can be put, while its hardness makes 

 it good flooring. It is considered superior to all other Ashes 

 in resisting decay when exposed. 



Commercial nurserymen have grown it for ornamental 

 purposes and report no difficulty in doing so. It cannot be 

 learned that any effort has been made to plant it in the 

 forest. No doubt it should receive the same treatment in 

 propagating it in the forest nursery and in removing it into 

 the forest that White Ash demands. There need not be as 

 great care exercised in gathering seed as for other Ashes, for, 

 as stated, the flowers are perfect, and hence the two sexes 



