THE PRACTICAL GARDEN i:R. 



})or;iry buildings. It has considerable claims to merit for 

 durability in wet situations, and is therefore much used for 

 supporting the roofs of coal and iron-mines, and also for em- 

 bankments by the sides of ponds and rivers. The bark con- 

 tains a considerable degree of astringency, and is used in the 

 process of tanning leather, and by the native highlanders, in 

 dying their tartan and other woollen stufis. Charcoal is 

 made of the wood, which is considered excellent in the manu- 

 facture of gunpowder. According to Evelyn, the oldest boats 

 we read of, Noah's Ark excepted, were made of this wood ; 

 and this appears confirmed, by the following line of \'irgil: — 



" And (h)\\n the rapid Po light nlders glide." 



\ itruvius asserts, that the morasses round Revanna, in Italy, 

 were piled with this wood, to support the foundations of their 

 buildings. 



Of this genus, there are eleven sjK^cies enumerated in tlx* 

 Ilortus Brittanicus, nine of which are natives of lun-ope, and 

 two of North America. There are none of tlieui but can be 

 readily propagated by cuttings, and the most of them by 

 seeds; nor are they cultivated with us with any view to utility, 

 no farther than being considered ornaments to the park, lawn, 

 or shrubbery. 



Asii. — {Fra.v'nuis) 



The common ash, Frax 'tnus twcchior, is a native of Britain, 

 and is always found in the greatest perfection on dry loamy 

 soils ; and although its growth is, in such situations, less rapid 

 than when in moist damp soils, it attains in them a greater age, 

 and ultimately a larger size, and the wood is much more valuable. 

 In wet soils, although, while young, it appears to be healthy 

 and vigorous, still it will decay before it attains a useful size. 

 In over rich soils the wood is seldom good, being short and 

 brittle, but in sandy soils it is tough, and therefore of much 

 more value. Strong clays are, of all others, the least calculated 

 for its growth. 



A prejudice appears to exist, by which the ash is almost ex- 

 cluded from forming a part of park scenery, some objecting to it 



