THE ASH TBEE. 357 
abundant and glossy, and is often retained to a later period 
in the autumn. These qualities render the male tree the 
most suitable for embellishment as a park or lawn tree, but 
the variety can only be produced with certainty by engrafting. 
Viewed as a landscape decoration in summer, the ash is 
nearly perfect. Its whole outline is easy, and, in a good 
specimen, we look in vain for anything lumpish or rigid. It 
may sometimes be deficient in grandeur, but this is amply 
counterbalanced by its gracefulness. We are wont to dwell 
with pride on the stubborn massiveness of some trees ; but 
an attentive observer of nature will have noticed that there 
are times when this unbending framework has its disadvan- 
tages. When the wind is up, the ash acquits itself much 
better than the oak. The one frets and flutters, the other 
sways itself easily about, and appears to have really a rejoicing 
tone with it. 
In Scotland perhaps no tree is more frequently employed 
as hedgerow timber ; this may be attributed to the important 
purposes for which the timber is adapted in agriculture ; but 
it certainly is employed at a great sacrifice: its roots spread 
near the surface and impoverish the soil to a great extent, 
and its top ramifies where it has space into an unprofitable 
shape, unless early and frequently attended to by pruning, 
which is very seldom the case ; for although the tree is often 
seen of a great size, it is rarely met with to a great extent 
possessed of a profitable figure in any other than close planta- 
tions. 
The tree is propagated by seed, which becomes ripe in October 
or November, and is generally yielded in great abundance. 
Care should be taken to make choice of seed from trees free 
from canker, with a clean bark, vigorous and freely grown. 
When gathered they should be laid in a pit made in a light 
friable or sandy soil; with this soil they should be intimately 
mixed up, at least equal to the bulk of the seed, and allowed 
to remain in this state, like haws, for fifteen or eighteen 
months, with no further care than that of turning them over 
every three or four months; this brings them forward to the end 
