THE ASH TREE. 361 
springs readily from the root, it is an excellent tree for yielding 
coppice-wood, which is adapted for various important purposes 
at various ages, such as hoops, crate-work, hop-poles, and tool- 
handles. 
The ash rarely attains to the height of 100 feet.t Some of 
the best specimens of the tree in this country stand on the 
western extremity of the county of Moray, at Earlsmill, near 
Darnaway Castle, at Brodie Castle, and at other places, ranging 
from sixty to eighty feet high, and at three feet above the 
surface in girth from fourteen to seventeen feet. One of the 
largest ash trees in the county of Moray was lately blown down 
in the parish of Duthil. It measured upwards of twenty feet 
in circumference—a great girth for a hardwood tree in the 
Highlands. Throughout Scotland ash has been planted only 
to a very limited extent of late years, compared with what it 
was in the early part of the present century. In some districts 
ash timber is becoming scarce, and for many purposes larch is 
employed as a substitute. The price of ash timber varies 
much in different localities, according to the quality and dis- 
tance from market. It arrives at maturity at various ages in 
different soils, and seldom improves after seventy or eighty 
years, when it generally becomes short in the grain, or brittle. 
The usual price ranges from Is. 6d. to 2s. 6d. per cubic foot. 
That which is rapidly grown in close woods, clean, and free of 
knots, is always the most valuable. 
1 The lately published statistics of old and remarkable trees throughout the 
country give a startling account of the incredible height attained by ash 
trees in several counties : some are stated from 100 to 110, and even up to 140 
and 160 feet high! It is to be regretted that these measurements were not 
taken with greater exactness, as it renders of no value the report, which 
would otherwise have been useful and interesting. 
