COMMON ASH. 93 



as a hedge-row tree to the exclusion of almost every other 

 species, not so much, perhaps, for any supposed superiority 

 as a tree of shelter, or for the ornamental qualities it pos- 

 sessed, as to ensure and keep up a constant supply of its 

 valuable timber, so extensively used for all country and 

 agricultural purposes. This custom of planting the hedge- 

 rows, which added so essentially to the beauty and ap- 

 pearance of this country, we regret has fallen greatly into 

 disuse from the belief that trees, and particularly the Ash, 

 are injurious to the fences, as well as to the vegetation 

 in their immediate neighbourhood. This apprehension we 

 think is greatly exaggerated, and we have not discovered 

 the drop from the foliage of the Ash to be more injurious 

 to the growth of plants beneath its influence than that 

 of the Oak, the Elm, and several other trees, or that its 

 roots are much more exhausting in their eifects upon 

 the surrounding herbage. It is not disputed but that 

 the shade of the Ash as well as of all other trees, by 

 the interception of light and free circulation of air, must 

 prove in some degree injurious to plants growing im- 

 mediately beneath them ; but where the hedge-row trees 

 are not too numerous and planted at proper distances, 

 the loss or injury can be but trifling, and is more than 

 compensated by the shelter and amelioration of the climate 

 they produce. Where the enclosures are small, hedge-row 

 trees undoubtedly may be, and very frequently are, much 

 too closely planted ; they then prevent the necessary and 

 free circulation of air, thereby producing much injury to 

 crops by fostering and giving rise to blights, mildew, &c, 

 as is frequently the case in England, where the enclosures 

 are small and at the same time thickly wooded ; but where 

 the enclosures are large, the planting of hedge-row trees 

 is, we are convinced, always attended with beneficial 



