APPLE ASH. 149 



with numerous larger vessels, sharply marked off from the 

 autumn wood, in which the few small vessels stand singly or 

 from 2 4 together. Pith-rays, scarcely recognizable.. Pith- 

 mass, ovoid, very large. The wood contains vessels, wood-fibres, 

 fibre-cells, and parenchyma. It is of moderate weight and hard- 

 ness, very even and close in grain, lustrous and susceptible, 

 of a good polish, the toughest of European woods, and very 

 pliable. It warps but little ; and, if felled in winter and properly 

 seasoned, is extremely durable, though few woods are more 

 perishable if these precautions are neglected. 



" Very great advantage will be found in reducing the Ash logs soon 

 after they are felled into plank or board for seasoning, since, if left for only 

 a short time in the round state, deep shakes open from the surface, which 

 involve a very heavy loss when brought on later for conversion " (Laslett). 



The compression or contortion of its fibre produces a lateral 

 grain or figure in Ash known as " rarn's-horn," or, from 

 its resemblance to the figured Maple used for the backs of violins, 

 as " fiddle-back." This is best shown in billets imported from 

 Austria and Hungary. Though the Ash grows in almost any 

 soil, it produces the best light coloured wood when grown quickly 

 in rich loam and a moist climate, as in the valleys of Britain and 

 Central Europe. The slower-grown wood of poorer soils, moun- 

 tains, and northern Europe is apt to become " black-hearted," as 

 also does that of pollard trees. This is sometimes attributed to 

 incipient decay, and is held to lessen the strength of the wood, 

 but produces the figured veneers imported from the Pyrenees, as 

 " Pyrenean Ash." Wounds or cankers also occur in the heart- 

 wood, which are believed, in the north-east of England, to be 

 caused by bees ; but this " Bee-sucken Ash," as it is termed, is 

 extremely hard and tough, so as to be suitable for mallets, etc. 



The utility of the Ash has long been recognized, and few 

 woods have a greater variety of uses, so that the poet Spenser 

 terms it " The ash, for nothing ill." Greeks, Romans, and Teu- 

 tons alike, used its tough saplings for lances, the Romans pre- 

 ferring the wood obtained from Gaul, and the Teutons also 

 employing it for bows, arrows, shields, and boat-building. 



