92 OLEACE.E. 



to its site, by first cutting off the branches that form the 

 present summit. The saw should be applied first above 

 the point where the secondary branches diverge from the 

 principal ones ; indeed, we may often observe, about this 

 part and lower down, that nature is even giving a kind 

 of hint that she is prepared to second us, for the young 

 shoots which she annually sends forth from the stems 

 of the branches would immediately expand and form a 

 new head. About two-thirds of the entire height is often 

 a proper point at which to cut, and in many a large 

 tree most of the branches divided will not exceed the 

 thickness of a man's arm, so that the wounds, considering 

 they are in the most active part of the whole plant, will 

 never prove injurious, but will generally be covered, in 

 great part or entirely, by the advancing bark. The opera- 

 tion of cutting with the saw should not only be performed 

 under the owner's eye, if possible, but each branch ought 

 to be twice sawn, the first cut being merely to get rid 

 of the weight of the branch, in order to prevent splitting, 

 and the second cut very carefully made at the proper point, 

 one or two feet lower down. 



" The shoots of the first summer will, perhaps, be weak, 

 but afterwards very strong, until a new head, capable of 

 bearing every blast, has been completed, and we behold, 

 instead of a tall and hide-bound victim to the winds, a 

 sturdy, storm-defying Ash, spreading its boughs in charac- 

 teristic beauty. So, too, the old, misshapen, wind-shat- 

 tered Ash of the hedgerow may be taught to exchange 

 its ragged, blackened twigs, for those fresher branches 

 which its venerable trunk is still quite able to nourish, 

 when relieved from the burden that was slowly yielding to 

 every storm because its period of growth was past." 



In many districts the Ash appears to have been planted 



