EUEOPEAN TIMBEE 
53 
tough, hard and elastic, easily worked, even and close in 
grain, and is probably superior to any other British 
timber for toughness and elasticity ; too flexible for use in 
building work. It excels the oak in strength and tough- 
ness. It is much used by wheelwrights, coachbuilders, 
cabinet-makers, and turners, and for hammer shafts, oars, 
horizontal bars for gymnasiums, golf clubs, and anything 
requiring toughness combined with flexibility; is easily 
bent after steaming to any shape, valuable for barrel hoops 
and motor wheels, not liable to split, and so is a good deal 
used for butchers' chopping blocks and boards. Often 
found irregular in the disposition of its fibres, sometimes 
finely figured, it is 
then much prized for 
cabinet work and fur- 
niture. Annual rings 
are distinct, medul- 
lary rays and pores 
are very fine (Fig. 11). 
The wood of the ^ict. 11. — Cross section of Ash, showing 
young trees is almost P^'''^" ^^"^ medullary rays, 
as valuable as the old ; indeed the value is greatest in trees of 
which the growth has been rapid, for it then exhibits the 
characteristic toughness of the timber in the highest degree. 
A considerable quantity of native-grown ash is used in 
England, and Irish ash is unequalled in quality and fibre 
by any in the world. It is, however, from America that we 
get the larger proportion of the ash used in Britain. Ash 
poles are used for sheep hurdles and crate-making, and 
were at one time much used for trawl beams on fishing boats. 
Weight about 49 lbs. per cubic foot. 
Rowan or Mountain Ash {Pyrus auctiparia) , now common 
ill suburban gardens, is found up to 2,600 ft. above sea 
