DESCEIPTIVB ENUMBEATION OP TEEES. 53 



Tlie comparison is not amiss : for the Oak joins 

 tlie idea of strength to beauty, while the Ash 

 rather joins the ideas of beauty and elegance. 

 Virgil marks the character of the Ash, as particu- 

 larly beautiful. 



' Fraxinus in sylvis pulcbevrima — ' * 



The Ash generally carries its principal stem 

 higher than the Oak, and rises in an easy, flow- 

 ing line. But its chief beauty consists in the 

 lightness of its whole appearance. Its branches 

 at first keep close to the trunk, and form acute 

 angles with it : but, as they begin to lengthen, 

 they generally take an easy sweep ; and, the loose- 

 ness of the leaves corresponding with the light- 

 ness of the spray, the whole forms an elegant 

 depending foliage. Nothing can have a better 

 efiect than an old Ash hanging from the corner . 

 of a wood, and bringing off the heaviness of the 

 other foliage with its loose pendent branches. 

 And yet, in some soils, I have seen the Ash lose 

 much of its beauty in the decline of age. Its 

 foliage becomes rare, and meagre; and its 



* Tlie Asli is tlie most beautiful of all the trees iu the wood. 



