THE ASHES : THEIR CHARACTERISTICS AND MANAGEMENT. 17 



streams and canyons from 4,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level, with 

 walnut, cottonwood, boxelder, maple, and sycamore. F. coriacea 

 occurs chiefly in desert regions of Nevada and southern California 

 on low mesas (ash meadows) and in canyons; also in southern Utah 

 and northern Arizona. 



BLACK ASH. 



Black ash is primarily a wet-soil swamp tree of northern lowlands 

 and foothills. Its chief commercial occurrence is in the hemlock 

 type (75 per cent of the merchantable stand being hemlock) of the 

 northern half of the Lake States, where it often forms 5 to 10 per 

 cent of the original merchantable stand, averaging 500 to 1,000 

 board feet per acre. Single forties may average 2,000 feet of black 

 ash per acre, or about 20 per cent of the merchantable stand, and in 

 very wet places single acres of nearly pure black ash (black-ash 

 swamps) sometimes will cut over 5,000 feet. Associated with the 

 hemlock and black ash on this type are hard maple, yellow birch, 

 basswood, elm, white ash, balsam, spruce, tamarack, and arborvitge 

 and in the southern part of the Lake States beech, white pine, and 

 soft maple as well. All of these species associate more or less with 

 black ash in the Middle and New England States, where the ash is 

 found chiefly in swamps at an elevation of 500 to 1,500 feet above sea 

 level, but rarely forms more than from 1 to 2 per cent of the merchant- 

 able stand. In central Indiana and Ohio its coniferous associates 

 disappear, and it has only an occasional botanical occurrence on wet 

 land with such species as willow, sycamore, soft maple, and pin oak. 

 South of Pennsylvania and Ohio black ash is of no importance what- 

 ever, having only an occasional botanical occurrence, chiefly in cold 

 mountain swamps, with balsam, spruce, and hemlock. 



BLUE ASH. 



This upland form of black ash has adapted itself to dry limestone 

 soils under the shade of oaks and hickories, where moisture, humus, 

 and soil conditions are favorable. It occurs primarily on uplands in 

 the oak type in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Indiana. 



WATER ASH. 



F. caroliniana and F. paucijlora. — These are deep-swamp species 

 of the south Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain region from Virginia to 

 Texas. 



SOIL, MOISTURE, AND LIGHT REQUIREMENTS. 



SOIL AND MOISTURE. 



Ash as a genus is fastidious and exacting in regard to soil fertility 

 and soil moisture. It is not exacting in regard to atmospheric mois- 

 ture or the amount of annual rainfall, its chief requirement being a 



6023°— Bull. 299—15 2 



