28 



SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



The lower part of the mountains of Calabria abound 

 with the Manna Ash, which grows spontaneously : the 

 woodman cuts down all the strong stems that grow above 

 the thickness of a man''s leg, which is the only care they 

 bestow upon it. Towards the end of July, the gatherers 

 of the manna make an horizontal gash, inclining up- 

 wards, in the bole of the tree. As it never flows the 

 first day, another cut is made on the second, and the 

 gatherer fixes the stalk of a maple-leaf in the upper 

 wound, and the end of the leaf in the lower one, so as to 

 form a sort of cup to receive the gum distilling from 

 these gashes. The season for gathering the manna con- 

 tinues about a month. It is more valued when gathered 

 in tubular pieces; to effect which they apply a straw, 

 or a small bit of a shrub to the incision, upon which the 

 manna runs as it oozes out ^ thus forming regular 

 tubes. 



The Flowering Ash, Fraxinus Ornus^ or Ornus Euro- 

 pcea, was raised at Enfield, by Dr. Uvedale, early in 

 the eighteenth century, from seeds which were brought 

 from Italy by Dr. William Sherrard. This is gene- 

 rally planted for ornament ; being, in the flowering sea^ 

 son, well covered with blossoms, which are conspicuous 

 at a considerable distance. This tree also exudes manna, 

 but in less quantity than the former. 



The manna thus exuded from the Ash must not be 

 confounded with the manna which makes so great a 

 figure in the old Hebrew poetry, although it is in some 

 respects similar. The Arabian manna, as we have been 

 lately informed by that adventurous and intelligent tra- 

 veller, Burckhardt, is exuded in June from a species of 

 tamarix v*^hich grov/s in the deserts. This species of 

 manna is very scarce, and not to be met with but in 



