1220 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART 111. 



spersed with, or surrounded by, numerous trees in hedgerows, the leaves, 

 after dropping in the autumn, communicate a bitter taste to the water both 

 in the ditches and ponds, and possibly, also, to the milk of cows ; but this 

 does not hold good more with respect to the ash than to other trees : indeed, 

 the most objectionable is the oak, the leaves of which, in autumn, give a 

 decidedly bitter taste both to water and milk. Our correspondent Mr. 

 Sydney of Cowpen, near Morpeth, who lives in a country where the ash tree 

 is more abundant than any other tree, says, " 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. Much excellent 

 butter is made in this neighbourhood, on farms where it would be impossible 

 to prevent the cows from feeding upon the leaves of the ash ; and yet I have 

 never met with a farmer's wife or dairy-woman, in the neighbourhood of 

 Morpeth, who had ever heard of the supposed injury done to butter." The 

 Arabian, as well as the Greek and Roman, physicians highly extol the medi- 

 cinal properties of the seed, which the Latins named lingua avis, bird's tongue, 

 from some supposed resemblance. It is said to be 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, the sap is extracted 

 from the leaves by maceration ; and from the green wood by putting one end 

 of a branch or truncheon of it into the fire, and gathering the sap, as it rises 

 from the other end, with a spoon. A decoction of the bark, or of the leaves, 

 has been used as a tonic ; and an infusion of the leaves as an aperient. 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 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 an agreeable 

 flavour. 



The Use of the Ash in Plantations has been objected to on account of the 

 injury which it does to every thing that grows in its shade; but, though we 

 admit that this, and its love of shelter, constitute a decided reason why it should 

 not be planted in hedgerows, or where it is expected to make profit from 

 plants growing under its shade, yet it affords no argument against planting it 

 in masses, where the object is the production of timber or coppice-wood. 

 As the tree, when standing singly, forms a most ornamental object on a lawn, 

 and, though it may impede the growth of the grass, yet does not destroy it, 

 there is no reason why the ash should not be admitted into pleasure-grounds, 

 as well as the cedar, or any other dense evergreen, under which grass will not 

 thrive. It has been observed, that female and hermaphrodite trees, from the 

 quantity of seeds which they produce, never exhibit such a handsome clothing 

 of foliage as the male trees ; and hence, in some situations, where an orna- 

 mental ash tree is wanted, it may be desirable to make sure of a male by 

 grafting. 



The Ash, with reference to picturesque Beauty, is thus characterised by 

 Gilpin : " The ash generally carries its principal stem higher than the oak 

 and rises in an easy flowing line ; but its chief beauty consists in the light- 

 ness of its whole appearance. Its branches, at first, keep close to the trunk, 

 and form acute angles with it ; but, as they begin to lengthen, they generally 

 take an easy sweep ; and the looseness of the leaves corresponding with 

 the lightness of the spray, the whole forms an elegant depending foliage. 

 Nothing can have a better effect than an old ash hanging from the corner of a 

 wood, and bringing off the heaviness of the other foliage with its loose 

 pendent branches : and yet, in some soils, I have seen the ash lose much of 

 its beauty in the decline of age. Its foliage becomes rare and meagre ; and 

 its branches, instead of hanging loosely, often start away in disagreeable 

 forms. In short, the ash often loses that grandeur and beauty in old age 

 which the generality of trees, and particularly the oak, preserve till a late 

 period of their existence. The ash also, on another account, falls under the 

 displeasure of the picturesque eye. Its leaf is much tenderer than that of 



