140 



FLORA AND SYLVA, 



sap is up it becomes more brittle and 

 liable to discolour. Ash poles for hoops 

 should be packed close in heaps and 

 covered with earth during April and 

 May to ward off the attacks of insects. 



hicrease. — In forest nurseries no 

 tree is to be had more readily in quantity 

 and in a good state for planting, but in 

 places infested by rabbits it is often diffi- 

 cult to establish, little trees being bitten 

 hard and either destroyed outright or 

 reduced to a leprous state. There is only 

 one tree rabbits like better than the Ash, 

 and that is the Rowan. Sometimes in 

 planting fields of Pine I have found that 

 the seeds of Ash have blown from the 

 neighbouring coppices and I got more 

 Ash than Pines. If taken up in good 

 time these seedlings come in very handy 

 for planting. Seed is cheap and sound 

 sent from good houses. I often scatter 

 some out of hand in recently-planted 

 woods upon cool soil, Ash being essen- 

 tial in mixed woods. In planting young 

 trees those of one to two years are best, 

 and in pure woods, rather close plant- 

 ing is best, allowing for loss through 

 ground game \ 4 feet apart is not too 

 close. In this way the trees draw well 

 up and thinning is easy, while the thin- 

 nings are useful at all ages; close plant- 

 ing need therefore be in no way against 

 the trees having full room to grow. In 

 the plains and upon the hillsides the Ash 

 seeds with fair regularity each year, but 

 after heavy seeding many trees will take 

 a year's rest. On the mountains seeding 

 is more intermittent, a heavy crop being 

 followed by years during which there 

 are no seeds. Gathered in autumn and 

 sown at once, part of the seed may start 



in the following spring, but in most 

 cases germination takes place eighteen 

 months from the sowing. If sown in the 

 spring the seed germinates during sum- 

 mer. The elaborate instructions given 

 in books for raising Ash from seed are 

 of little use to planters, as the tree is so 

 abundantly produced in forest nurseries 

 and, as I think, so freely raised from 

 seed by merely scattering it about, 

 or even sowing itself in many cases. 

 Though male and female flowers most- 

 ly occur on the same tree, they are some- 

 times found apart ; those bearing only 

 male flowers carry no seed, but their 

 growth is finer and foliage more abun- 

 dant where beauty of form is sought. 



Ra?ige. — The Ash is widely spread 

 in Europe, reaching as far north as Scot- 

 land and passing thence in a descending 

 curve through Norway, and southern 

 Finland, to the neighbourhood of St. 

 Petersburg ; from this point its area 

 turns sharply southward to Moscow, 

 stretching further east to the Russian 

 frontier but not passing the Ural moun- 

 tains. From thence it spreads south- 

 wards to the Caucasus, being common 

 in the mountains of that region. Its 

 southern limit crosses the Carpathians 

 in Dalmatia, descends towards the Me- 

 diterranean as far as the centre of Italy, 

 and reaches the Atlantic in the north of 

 Spain. In the north of Africa and upon 

 the European shores of the Mediterra- 

 nean it is found only in its dwarfer and 

 distinct form, F. exelsior australis. Its 

 limit of altitude varies from 1,000 feet 

 in Britain to 2,500 feet in the Carpa- 

 thians, and from 4,000 to 4,500 feet in 

 the Alps. 4 . 4 4 . 4 4 , 4 



1 Vif '«r 



