The Ash. 



every thing, as far as I can recollect, except the Poplar 

 tribe; but, on the otlier hand, what it does j3roduce, it 

 produces quickly, and the tree has always this great re- 

 commendation, that it will thrive well in the most swampy 

 places, and will, sooner and more effectually than any other 

 tree, convert an ugly swamp into a good-looking planta- 

 tion. When cut down, it is quickly up again, and it soon 

 overtops all weeds and sedge, and every other thing that 

 infests the land in which it grows. 



In Latin, Fraxinus ; in French, Frtne. 



102, The botanical characters are : it has hermaphrodite and female flowers 

 on the same tree, and sometimes on different trees. The hermaphrodite flowers 

 have no petals, but a small four-pointed erapalement, including two erect 

 stamina, which are terminated by obloug- summits, having four furrows. In 

 the centre is situated an oval compressed germen, supporting a cylindrical 

 style, crowned by a bifid stigma. The germen afterwards becomes a com- 

 pressed bordered fruit, shaped like a bird's tongue, having one cell inclosing 

 a seed of the same form. The female flowers are the same, but have no 

 stamina. 



103. This tree is, on every account, one of those which 

 is of the greatest consequence. The manner, therefore, of 

 raising it, ought to have particular attention bestowed upon 

 it. There are several sorts of Ash, if we include, as we 

 must, those of America; but, though it will be necessary 

 to give so much in the way of description as shall be re- 

 quired to distinguish one sort from the other; and though 

 there is some difference as to the nature of the seeds of 

 different sorts of Ash ; still, the manner of propagating, of 

 planting, of cultivating, of pruning, and of cutting down 

 and applying to use, is the same in all cases, as far as 



