68 FAMILIAR TREES 



If at all crowded it "vvill form a trunk free from 

 branches to a great height, but when standing alone 

 it throws out large boughs, which divide into numerous 

 branches so as to form a spreading head, whilst in old 

 trees, especially when growing on rocky slopes, the 

 branches acquire a downward sweep. Gilpin, in his 

 " Forest Scenery," gives a characteristic description of 

 the spray of the Ash : — 



"As the boughs of the Ash are less complex than those of the 

 Oak, so is its spray. Instead of the thick intermingled bushiness 

 which the spray of tlie Oak exhibits, that of the Ash is much more 

 simple, running in a kind of irregular parallels. The main stem 

 holds its course, forming at the same time a beautiful sweep ; but 

 the spray does not divide, like that of the Oak, from the extremity 

 of the last year's shoot, but springs from the sides of it. Two shoots 

 spring out opposite each other, and each pair in a contrary direction. 

 Karely, liowever, do both the shoots of either side come to ^maturity ; 

 one of them is commonly lost as the tree increases, or, at least, makes 

 no appearance in comparison with the other which takes the lead. 

 iSo that, notwithstanding this natural regularity of growth (so 

 injurious to the picturesque beauty of the Spruce Fir and some 

 other trees), the Ash never contracts the least di.sgusting formality 

 from it. It may even receive great picturesque beauty, for some- 

 times the old branch is lost as far as one of the lateral shoots, and 

 this occasions a kind of rectangular junction, which forms a 

 beautiful contrast with the other spray, and displays an elegant 

 mode of hanging to the branches of the tree. This points out 

 another difference between the spray of the Oak and that of the 

 Ash. The spray of the Oak seldom shoots from the under sides of 

 the branches, and it is this chiefly which keeps the branches in a 

 horizontal form. But the spray of the Ash, often breaking out on 

 the under side of the branch, forms very elegant pendent boughs." 



The smooth ashen-grey bark of the bole has been 

 supposed to be the origin of the name Ash. The twigs 

 are slightly greener, and are noticeably flattened at 



