THE 



NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



Vol. i 6 October, 1920 No. 7 



*The American Ash 



Mae Creswell 

 Cedar Falls, la. 



During the boyhood of Hiawatha, his teacher Iagoo trained the 

 future warrior, taught him to make and to use the bow and arrow. 



"Made a bow for Hiawatha 

 From a branch of ash he made it." 



Just as the primitive man went to the ash for his bows and 

 canoe paddles so the pioneer made use of its wood in forming his 

 simple tools of conquest and we the creatures of our highly 

 organized civilization get from its wood parts of many of the 

 machines for production; for the same qualities that made it 

 desirable for the bow or pitch -fork handle also make it valuable 

 in hammer handle, carriage tongue or automobile. 



The ash is like some reliable friend to whom we turn in time of 

 need or trouble. It never makes much show or demonstration, 

 but is one of the quiet reliable friends that we may trust. 



The American or white ash, Fraxinus Amercana is found only 

 in North America. It occurs from Nova Scotia westward to about 

 the ninty -fifth meridian and south to Georgia and Texas, but the 

 finest trees are in the Ohio Valley where it sometimes grows to 

 be 120 feet tall and six feet through. Usually it does not get to be 

 over 60 or 80 feet high and two or three feet in diameter. Ash trees 

 are inhabitants of the North Temperate zone; species closely 

 related to ours grow in the forests of Central and Northern Europe. 

 Our ash chooses rich, moist, well-drained snil but makes a slow 

 but sure growth in thin or poor soil. It is found intermingled 

 with other deciduous trees, never in pure stands. 



*This is the last of a series of articles written for The Review by Miss 

 Cresswell before her death which took from this world a remarkably able 

 naturalist and an excellent teacher. 



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