COMMON ASH. 89 



during that depending spray and foliage, so much admired 

 in the matured and full-grown Ash. Like most pinnate- 

 leaved trees, the foliage of the Ash is light and graceful, 

 hanging in loose and pendant masses, and well-adapted, 

 as Gilpin observes, " to bring off and relieve the heaviness 

 of less airy foliage ; " the colour also, which is of a light and 

 agreeable green, harmonises, and contrasts well with trees 

 of a more sombre hue. 



In cultivating the Ash with a view to profit, and where 

 it is intended to form the principal crop of timber, it is 

 best planted by itself without admixture of other deciduous 

 trees, as from its mode of growth it proves one of the 

 worst of neighbours in mixed plantations, particularly to 

 the oak, which it lashes and destroys by its heavy and 

 easily-swayed head ; the larch, however, if thought neces- 

 sary, may be used as a nurse, and would add to the value 

 of the two or three first periodical thinnings. A plantation 

 of Ash on this principle soon begins to make a return, the 

 poles becoming valuable at an age much earlier than most 

 other kinds of hard wood ; and as the stools send up strong 

 and vigorous shoots, there is never wanting a supply of 

 underwood, convertible to many useful purposes. Thinning, 

 in such plantations, ought to be freely administered, and 

 should also be commenced at an early period, that is, 

 within six or eight years after planting, as the Ash, upon 

 favourable soil, will in that time have made a vigorous 

 growth, rendering the saplings fit for hoops, corf rods, &c, 

 and the larch of size sufficient for small posts, railings, &c. 



It is from a want of attention to timely thinning, — one 

 of the most important branches of Arboriculture, — that 

 we see so many instances of unhealthy and stunted-looking 

 plantations : these, whether as large masses or in the form 

 of narrow belts, are, after the operation of planting, too 



