33 BULLETIN 523, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
(Doyle scale) for rafts of ash logs delivered for loading on trans- 
Atlantic steamers, and make a good margin of profit on the opera- 
tion. The logs are mostly 12 inches and up in top diameter, and 12 
feet and up in length, although some smaller logs down to 6 inches 
in diameter are also exported. The exporters figure that the smaller 
amount of timber shown by Doyle’s rule in proportion to what can be 
cut out from the smaller sized logs warrants paying the same price. 
Several million feet of ash lumber, in deal or plank form, are also 
exported yearly to Europe and South America. 
- During the last part of the eighteenth century American ash be- 
gan to supplant European ash (from the Baltic region) in English 
shipbuilding, because of its superior qualities, and large quantities 
were exported to England for this purpose for nearly a century. Jt 
is used for rafters, oars, capstans, bars, blocks, levers, handspikes, 
pins, ete. 
FUEL. 
The chief minor use of ash is for fuel, for which green ash is es- 
pecially used in parts of the Southern States, such as localities 
along the lower Mississippi River where there is not much pine. It 
is very easily split, comparatively light, and makes a quick, hot fire. 
_A fairly large quantity of ash finds its way to fuel yards, and char- 
coal burners also use much of it. Ash has a fuel value of about 90 
per cent of that of oak. 
FENCING AND OTHER FARM USES. 
Ash is used to a minor extent for fence posts and rails in places 
where better suited timber is not available, such as the Prairie and 
Plains States. Black and blue ash are the most durable ash woods 
for posts, but all species make strong, hght rails. Ash is good for 
rough and ready wagon poles cut by the farmer. The possibilities 
in these and other general farm uses can be greatly extended by creo- 
soting. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
Black ash is used for mine timbers. It has also been used success- 
fully for chemical pulp, along with birch, beech, and maple, by one 
large concern in Elk County, Pa. White, green, black, and Oregon 
ash bark is used to a limited extent in the drug business—after the 
removal of the outside corky layer. From three to five cents per 
pound is paid to collectors of this material. It is not, however, an 
oficial drug and is of small commercial importance. Ash wood is 
distilled to a very limited extent along with birch, beech, and maple 
for the production of wood alcohol, acetate, and charcoal. Sticks of. 
