140 



THE ASH. 



Elizabeth's time, the inhabitants of Colten and 

 Hawkshead Fells remonstrated against the number 

 of forges in the country, because they consumed 

 all the loppings and croppings, which were the 

 sole winter food for their cattle. In the north of 

 Lancashire they still lop the Ash to feed the 

 cattle in autumn when the grass is upon the de- 

 cline, the cattle peeling off the bark." Its leaf 

 and rind are nutritive to deer, and much used in 

 browzing them in summer. The keepers of the 

 forest therefore seek out all the Ash-trees they 

 can find, which are for this purpose mangled and 

 destroyed."* Ash -leaves, as well as the leaves 

 of the Sloe, are said to be used extensively for 

 the purpose of adulterating tea, which they re- 

 semble in shape and size. It is somewhat con- 

 solatory to know that either substitute, if taken 

 in moderation, is innocent. 



In Britain, the Ash, in its living state, is not 

 liable to be much disfigured by the attacks of 

 insects ; but on the Continent the case is very 

 different, as will be seen from the following ac- 

 count quoted from various authors by Loudon 

 in his valuable Arboretum Britannicum : If Na- 

 ture had produced the Ash for no other purpose 

 than for the embellishment of forests," says the 

 writer of the article Frdxinus in the Nouveau 

 Du Hamel, 'Sve might almost say that she had 

 failed in her end, or had opposed herself to 

 her own views, in destining the leaves of that 

 tree to be the food of an insect Cantharis vesi- 

 catoria (Spanish-fly or blister-fly), a beetle of a 

 beautiful golden green, with black antennae, which 

 devours them with avidity. The ash is no sooner 



* Gilpin. 



