SECTION XIII. 



OF THE ASH — ELM — BEECH. 

 THE ASH. 



Next to the Oak, the Ash {Fraxinus excelsior) 

 deserves the precedency before all other trees, as it comes 

 the nearest to the Oak in point of general utility as 

 well as beauty. Of the fourteen kinds of this tree, enu- 

 merated by Willdenow, the one only just now mentioned 

 belongs to Britain. The rest are natives of America ; 

 but several of them from the northern parts deserve cul- 

 tivation in this climate.''^ 



The universal utility of the Ash is so well known that 

 it is almost superfluous to enlarge upon it. In the arts, 

 in peace, as well as war, in husbandry, architecture, manu- 

 factures, it is equally conspicuous. It is celebrated by 

 Evelyn, as being " the sweetest of our forest fuelling, and 

 fittest for ladies' chambers.'' It will, also, burn even 

 when green, and may therefore " be reckoned,'' he says, 

 among ^v\a aKanvay " or wood without smoke. As to 

 its beauty, the Oak has been sometimes called the 

 Hercules, and the Ash the Venus of the forest. 

 " The comparison," as Gilpin observes, " is extremely 

 just ; as the Oak joins the idea of strength joined to 

 beauty, while the Ash unites the ideas of beauty and 



* Note I. 



