202 TREES 



there is no season when the leaf arrangement cannot be at 

 once determined by the leaf scars, prominent upon the 

 twigs; and under the tree there will always be remnants 

 of the cast-off foliage, to show that it is compound. 



Ash trees are usually large and stately when full grown, 

 with trunks clothed in smooth bark, checked into small, 

 often diamond-shaped plates. This gives the trees a 

 trim, handsome appearance in the winter woods. As 

 shade trees, ashes are very desirable, and they are valuable 

 for their timber. 



The near relatives of ashes surprise us. They belong to 

 the olive family, whose type is the olive tree of the Medi- 

 terranean region, now extensively cultivated in California 

 for its fruit. Privets, lilacs, and forsythias, favorites in 

 the gardens of all countries that have temperate climates, 

 are cousins to the ash tree. One of its most charming 

 relatives is the little fringe tree of our own woods. Thirty 

 species of ash are known; half of that number inhabit 

 North America. There are ash trees in every section of 

 our country except the extremes of latitude and altitude. 

 Tropical ash trees are native to Cuba, North Africa, and 

 the Orient. 



The White Ash 



Fraxinus Americana, Linn. 



The white ash is one of the noblest trees in the American 

 forest, the peer of the loftiest oak or walnut. When young 

 it is slim and graceful, but it grows sturdier as it approaches 

 maturity, lifting stout, spreading branches above a tall, 

 massive trunk. In the forest the head is narrow, but in 

 the open the dome of a white ash is as broad and sym- 

 metrical as that of a white oak. A gray rind covers the 



