j6 KINDS OF TREES, 



The Afh is alfo much cried down as a hedge* 

 row tree. Next to the oak and Scots elm, how- 

 ever, it becomes the most valuable in that cha- 

 racter ; and, until the planting of hedge-row tim- 

 ber be prevented (by ftatute), we can fee no good 

 reafon why the Afh fhouid be excluded. It is the 

 total want of training hedge-row timber in Scot- 

 land, (for fear, perhaps, of producing the horri- 

 bly mangled and ugly poles to be feen all over 

 England), which has brought hedge-rows into 

 difrepute, more than any thing elfe. But this 

 fubjecl: we mall have occafion to notice more fully 

 afterwards. 



It is hardly neceflary to enumerate the qualities 

 of afh-timber, and the ufes to which it is applica- 

 ble. It may be noted, however, that the afli pof- 

 feffes a very fmgular property, namely, that of 

 being in perfection even in infancy, no other tree 

 becoming ufeful fo foon. A pole, three inches 

 in diameter, is as valuable and durable, for any 

 purpofe to which it can be applied, as the timber 

 of the largeft tree. The plough and cart wrightj 



the 



milk will be rank, or of little or no value ; which is al- 

 ways the quality of the butter which is made about Guil- 

 ford, Godalmin, and some other parts of Surrey, where 

 there are ash trees growing about all their pastures ; so 

 that it is very rare to meet with any butter in those places 

 which is fit to be eaten : But, in all good dairy counties, 

 the.y never suffer an ash tree to grow. ' 



