64 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. { March, 
Ash in basket work.—In the Borantcat GAzerrr, vol. xi, pp. 326-828, — 
is an article on Hierochloa borealis, in which the author describes the 
use of this grass in basket work. Furthermore he says: “The wood 
used, which forms the main 
SR Saree part of these articles, is white 
ash, Fraxinus Americana, 
and red maple, Acer rubrum, 
called in Maine white maple. 
These woods they prepare at 
home, splitting the ash into 
strips of the requisite thin- 
ness and width by means of 
a a machine.” 
In conversation with an old basket maker, in the eastern part of 
Yates Township, Orleans County, N. Y., I gleaned the following facts rela- 
tive to a more primitive method of splitting ash than that by machines. 
This basket maker first splits the ash log into wedge-shaped pieces as repre- 
sented in the upper half of figure 1. These pieces are again divided into 
parts along the cross-lines, as seen in the lower half of figure 1, The 
pieces now obtained are called “bars. In order to separate the bar into 
strips suitable for his work, the basket maker places the bar ona block 
Separate the layers, the basket maker causes the end of the bar to project 
about four or six inches from the pounding block, and strikes more h 
blows upon the projecting end. This causes the end of the bar to sepa- 
rate in layers, as figure 2 shows. 
The strips of layers of growth, 
or “ grains” 
guages or are themselves split Fig. 2. 
