2 BULLETIN 523, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the Office of Industrial Investigations of the Forest Service, from 
1910 to 1913, inclusive." 
COMMERCIAL SPECIES. 
There are 18 species of ash native to the .United States, but 
98 per cent of the ash lumber produced is from three species—white 
ash (Fraxinus americana), black ash (Ff. nigra), and green ash (fF. 
lanceolata). The species which make up the remaining 2 per cent of 
the lumber output of ash are Oregon ash (/. oregona), blue ash 
(7. quadrangulata), Biltmere ash (/. biltmoreana), pumpkin ash 
(Ff. profunda), and red ash (F. pennsylvanica), all of which species 
have good cultural pessibilities and are considered more important 
silv fealeieaity than commercially. (Fig. iy 
In the lumber trade ash lumber is often not distinguished as to 
kinds, all species being sold under the common name of ash. Much 
is sold under the name white ash to distinguish it from brown ash 
(also known as black ash, 7. nigra), which has mechanical properties 
quite different from those of white ash but the same general appear- 
ance and structure and a more handsome grain. Lumber cut from all 
species, however, is often sold as white ash. The terms green, red, 
and Biltmore ash are not used at all in the lumber trade. Old-growth 
ash from continuously wet river bottom land is often called pumpkin 
ash because it is soft and brittle. The term is applied chiefly to 
pumpkin ash (7. profunda) and green ash (F. lanceolata). The 
terms black and blue ash are often used locally to designate standing 
ash timber, but do not necessarily refer to the species botanically 
known as /. nigra and Ff. quadrangulata. The term Oregon ash is 
seldom used in trade on the Pacific coast. 
An estimate of the cut of ash by species in the different States is 
given in Table 1. The table is based on 1910 census data. From 
these data the cut of ash by counties was determined (see fig. 2), 
and careful estimates were made by the author of the proportion 
of each species in each county for which a report was made by the 
census. The table indicates roughly the commercial range of the 
important species. 
1 Compiled under the direction of J. C. Nellis, forest examiner. 
