THE ASHES 



having a less pinched, flattened appearance at 

 the nodes on the stem. It grows throughout 

 New England in swamps, in wet woods, and 

 in moist, muddy ground near rivers. In the 

 woods its trunk is found frequently without 

 branches to a great height, and Emerson calls 

 it the most slender deciduous tree to be found 

 in the forest. It is sometimes seventy or eighty 

 feet high, with a trunk scarcely a foot in 

 diameter. 



The wood of the black ash is heavy but not 

 strong. It is used for fences, for the interior 

 finish of houses, and, after being separated into 

 thin strips, it is used in making baskets and 

 the bottoms of chairs. Its sap was an old 

 remedy for earache, obtained by holding a 

 green branch before the fire. 



The specific name, nigra, refers to the color 



of the buds. 



European Ash ^ ^'^W t^'^e^ «'''^^' « Wy^ ^P^'^ad- 

 Fraxinus excelsior i^^g head and skoft, tliick trwik. 



The hark is ash-colored when old, and dark gray 

 when young. Very black buds distinguish it 

 jrom the American species. Opposite leaf- 

 scars. 



The European ash is planted frequently along 

 roadsides and in our parks and gardens. It is 

 indigenous to Northern, Central, and Southern 



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