COMMON ASH. 97 



gard to our dairy, although the cows hare access to several 

 Ash trees growing in and around their pasture, and in 

 this opinion we are further supported by a statement con- 

 tained in the " Arboretum Britannicum." 



From Evelyn we learn that the seed, or keys, as they 

 are commonly called, were, when green, pickled and 

 preserved as a " delicate salading ;" we do not, however, 

 venture to recommend this condiment upon our own au- 

 thority, though we think it may prove as savoury as many 

 other vegetable productions used in this way. 



Some lingering superstitions still attach to this tree, 

 for we find an instance related by the Rev. W. T. Bree, 

 in the " Magazine of Natural History, r ' where a ruptured 

 child was made to pass through the chasm of a young 

 Ash tree, split for the purpose, in Warwickshire, a su- 

 perstition also noticed by Evelyn. 



Another mentioned in the same work is that of boring 

 a hole in an Ash tree and enclosing within it a living 

 Shrew mouse ; the branch of a tree thus prepared is 

 supposed to cure lameness and cramp in cattle, both of 

 which are laid to the charge of the unfortunate mouse. 



The Ash appears to attain the greatest perfection, in 

 regard to the peculiar qualities which render it so valuable 

 as a timber, viz., toughness and elasticity, in a free loam 

 with a mixture of gravel. In many rich soils, though 

 it grows with great luxuriance, and attains its largest 

 dimensions, it is frequently brittle and short in the grain, 

 from a deficiency in the lateral adhesion of the woody 

 fibre, and this tenderness, as it is called, seems to increase 

 with the age of the tree. Soil, however, we are convinced, 

 is not the only cause that affects the timber, as we have 

 found trees possessing very different degrees of excellence 

 growing in the same soil and situation. The natural con- 



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