FRA 
The firft fort is the common Afh-tre'e, which, grows 
naturally in moft parts of England, and is fo well 
known as to need no defcription. The leaves of this 
fort have generally five pair of lobes, and are termi- 
nated by an odd one ; they are of a very dark green, 
and their edges are ilightly fawed. The flowers, are 
produced in loofe fpikes from the fide of the branches, 
which are fucceeded by flat feeds, which ripen in au- 
tumn ; there is a variety of this with variegated leaves, 
which is preferved in home gardens. 
The fecond fort grows naturally in Calabria, and is 
generally fuppofed to be the tree from whence the 
manna is colledled, which is an exludation from the 
leaves of the tree. The fhoots of this tree are much 
ftiorter, and the joints clofer together than thofe of 
the firft fort •, the fmall leaves are {hotter, and deeper 
fawed on their edges, and are of a lighter green. The 
flowers come out from the fide of the branches, which 
are of a purple colour, and appear in the fpring be- 
fore the leaves come out. This tree is of humble 
growth, feldom riflng more than fifteen or fixteen 
feet high in England. 
The third fort is a low tree, which rifes about the 
fame height as the fecond •, the leaves of this fort are 
much fmaller and narrower than thofe of the firft, but 
are fawed on their edges, and are of the fame dark 
colour. The flowers of this fort have petals, which 
are wanting in the common Afh. 
The fourth fort was raifed by the late Dr. Uvedale at 
Enfield, from feeds which were brought from Italy by 
t)r. William Sherard, where the trees grow naturally ; 
but it was fuppofed to be a different fort from that 
mentioned by Dr. Morrifon, in his Prteludia Botanica, 
but by comparing them together they appear to be 
the fame. 
The leaves of this fort have but three or four pair 
of lobes (or fmall leaves) which are fhort, broad, and 
fmooth, of a lucid green, and irregularly fawed on the 
edges ; the midrib of the great leaf is jointed, and 
fwelling where the leaves come out. The flowers 
grow in loofe panicles at the end of the branches-, thefe 
are moft of them male, having two ftamina in each, 
but no germen or ftyle ; they are of a white herba- 
ceous colour, and appear in May. As this fort very 
rarely produces feeds in England, it is propagated by 
grafting or budding it upon the common Afh. 
The fifth fort was raifed from feeds, which were fent 
from New England in the year 1724, by Mr. Moore. 
The leaves of this tree have but three, or at moft but 
four pair of lobes (or fmall leaves) which are placed 
far diftant from each other, and are terminated by 
an odd lobe, which runs out into a very long point ; 
they are of a light green and entire, having no ferra- 
tures on their edges : this tree fhoots into ftrong irre- 
gular branches, but doth not grow to a large fize in 
the trunk. It is propagated by grafting it upon the 
common Afh. 
The flxth fort was raifed from feeds which were 
fent from Carolina in the year 1 724, by Mr. Catefby. 
The leaves of this fort hath feldom more than three 
pair of lobes, the lower being the leaft, and the upper 
the largeft; thefe are about five inches long and 
two broad, of a light green colour, and {lightly fawed 
on their edges the foot-ftalk, or rather the midrib, 
of the leaves is taper, and has fhort downy hairs 
the feeds are broader than thofe of the common Afh, 
and are of a very light colour. As this fort hath not 
yet produced feeds in England, it is propagated by 
grafting it upon the common Aft. 
Thefe trees are now propagated in plenty in the 
nurferies for fale, as there has been of late ^ears a 
great demand for all the hardy forts of trees and 
fhrubs, which will live in the open air ^ but all thofe 
trees which are grafted upon the common Afh, are 
not fo valuable as thofe which are raifed from feeds, 
becaufe the flock grows much fafter than the grafts 
fothat the lower part of the trunk, fo far as the ftock 
rifes, will often be twice the fize of the upper ; and if 
the trees fiend much expofed to the wind, the grafts 
are frequently broken off to the flock, after they are 
FRA 
grown to a large fize, which is a great difappointment 
to a perion after having waited ieveral years, to fee 
their tree's fuddenly deftroyed. Befide, if the wood 
of either of the forts is valuable, it can be of little 
life when the trees are fo raifed. 
The fourth fort is generally planted for ornament, 
the flowers making a fine appearance when they are 
in beauty, for almoft every branch is terminated by a 
large loofe panicle j fo that when the trees are large, 
and covered with flowers, they are diftinguiftable at a 
great diftance. 
All the other forts ferve to make a variety in planta- 
tions, but have little beauty to recommend them ; 
and as their wood feems to be greatly inferior to that 
of the common A{h, fo there fhould be few of thefe 
planted, becaufe they will only fill up the {pace where 
better trees might grow. 
0,0 . 
The common Afh propagates ifcfelf In' plenty by the 
feeds which fcatter in the autumn, fo that where the 
feeds happen to fall in placeswhere cattle do not come, 
there will be plenty of the plants come up in the fpring ; 
but where any perfon is d^firous to raife a, quantity of 
the trees, the feeds fhould be fown as foon as they are 
ripe, and then the plants will come up the following 
fpring but if the feeds are kept out of the ground 
till the fpring, the plants will not come up till the 
year after, which is the fame with all the forts of Afh 
that when any of their feeds are brought from abroad, 
as they feldom arrive here before the fpring, the 
plants muft not be expedited to appear till the next 
year ; therefore the ground fhould be kept clean all 
the fummer where they are fown, and not difturbed, 
left the feeds fhould be turned out of the ground, or 
buried too deep to grow ; for many perrons are too 
impatient to wait a year for the growth of feeds, fo that 
if they do not come up the firft year, they dig up the 
ground, and thereby deftroy the feeds. 
When the plants come up, they muft be kept clean 
from weeds during the fummer ; and if they make 
good progrefs in the feed-bed, they will be fit to 
tranfplant by the autumn therefore there fhould be 
fome ground prepared to receive them, and as foon 
as their leaves begin to fall, they may be tranfplantecL 
In taking them up, there fhould be cafe taken 
not to break or tear off their roots to prevent which, 
they fhould be taken up with a fpade, and not dranw 
up, as is frequently prabtifed ; for as many of the 
plants which rife from feeds will out-ftrip the others 
in their growth, fo it is frequently pradtiied, to draw 
up the largeft plants, and leave the fmaller to grow a 
year longer before they are tranfplanted and to avoid 
hurting thofe which are left, the others are drawn out 
by hand, and thereby many of their roots are tom oft 
or broken therefore it is much the better way to 
take all up, little or big together, and tranfplant them 
out, placing the larger ones together in rows,, and the 
fmaller by themfelves. The rows fhould be three 
feet afunder, and the plants a foot and a half diftance 
in the rows ; in this nurfery they may remain two 
years, by which time they will be ftrong enough to 
plant where they are to remain ; for the younger 
they are planted out, the larger they will grow ; fo 
that where they are defigned to grow large, they 
fhould be planted very young and the ground where 
the plants are raifed, fhould not be better than that 
where they are defigned to grow for when the plants 
are raifed in good land, and afterward tranfplanted 
into worfe, they very rarely thrive ; fo that it is mueft 
the beft method to make the nurfery upon a part of 
the fame land, where the trees are defigned to be 
planted, and then a fufficient number of trees may- 
be left Handing upon the ground, and thefe will out- 
ftrip thofe which are removed, and will grow to a 
larger fize. 
Where people live in the neighbourhood of Aft-, 
trees, they may fupply themfelves with plenty of felf- 
fown plants, provided cattle are not fuffered to graze 
on the land, for they will eat off the young plants, 
and not buffer them to grow , but where the feeds fall 
in hedges, cr where they are protefted by buft.es, the 
5 plants 
