THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



153 



THE ASH. 



Fraxinus Excelsior. 

 By J. P. SOUTTER, Bishop Auckland. 



The oak, the ash, and the bonnie ivie tree, 



O they flourish best at hame in the north countrie. 



If the oak is the acknowledged king of the British forests, the ash is as 



unquestionedly the queen of our native woods. If we miss the massive 



majesty of the " monarch oak," or the umbrageous stateliness of the mighty 



elm, we have in the ash an elegance of outline and graceful grandeur, which, 



with the airy lightness of its foliage combines to impart a feminine loveliness 



that makes every one assent to the regal title of Empress of the Grove. 



When in full leaf in summer there is no possibility of confounding the ash 



with any other of our indigenous forest trees. The large dark green pinnate 



leaves of four to six pairs of leaflets with a terminal odd one, like a rose leaf 



but larger, have nothing resembling them in our woods except the elder, or 



the mountain ash (Pyrus acuparia), a very different plant, but so named 



from this peculiarity in its foliage. But these are dwarf-branching bushes, of 



twenty to thirty feet, compared with the queenly stature of the ash, which 



attains a height of eighty to a hundred feet, with a circumference of twenty 



feet. Even in winter and spring when denuded of its leaves it can be readily 



recognised by the singular blackness of its buds, these are veritable little 



niggers, a feature which has been noticed by our poet laureate, who sings :— 



" Black as the buds of ash in March " 



Whilst another graphically describes — 



"Its buds, on either side opposed 

 In couples, each to each enclosed, 

 In caskets black and hard as jet, 

 The ash tree's graceful branch beset, 

 Sweeps gracefully with easy sway." 



The sooty buds, combined with the ashy hue, i.e., a dull leaden grey colour, 

 of its twigs and young branches, makes it easily distinguished in a forest even 

 at a considerable distance. The bark of the first year's growth is remarkably 

 smooth and even, but it soon loses this characteristic and becomes in the 

 older branches and trunk of the tree seamed and furrowed with cracks and 

 fissures. Aged trunks and stunted or decaying trees are frequently covered 

 with gnarled excresences like huge warts or wens, these are usually found 

 finely marbled and mottled with veins when cut, and are therefore highly 

 prized by cabinet makers and turners for fancy articles. So valuable is the 

 wood of the ash for its toughness and elasticity that it has been called the 



