487 
the first day, another cut is given on the second, and then the woodman fixes the stalk of a maple 
leaf in the upper wound, and the end of the leaf in the lower one, so as to form a cup to receive the 
gum as it distills from each slash. The season continues about a month. The men have only three 
carlines (one shilling and three halfpence) for every rotolo; which quantity, containing thirty-three 
ounces and a third, is sold for twenty-four carlini and three quarters, or somewhat more than ten 
shillings; if it be in tubular pieces, the price one third.* These pieces are called Manna in cannoli , 
and these regular tubes are produced, by applying to the incision thin straw, or small bits of shrubs, 
upon which the manna runs as it oozes out.f The trees succeed best in an eastern exposure, in order 
to warm the juices in the morning, and to inspissate those which the heat has sweated out in the 
evening. J 
Species 3. Flowering Ash-tree. (Fraxinus Ornus.) 
The petioles of this are equal, in the common Ash margined; the leaflets are also equal; in the 
common Ash the odd one is larger than the rest. 
Species 4. American Ash-tree. (Eraxinus Americana.) 
The fruits or keys are the same as in the common Ash, but much smaller and narrower. There 
are several varieties of this, as the White Ash, Red Ash, Black Ash, &c. 
CULTURE. 
The common Ash propagates itself in plenty by the seeds which scatter in the autumn, so that 
where the seeds happen to fall in places where cattle do not come, there will be plenty of the plants 
come up in the spring; but where any person is desirous to raise a quantity of the trees, the seeds 
should be sown as soon as they are ripe, and then the plants will come up the following spring: but 
if the seeds are kept out of the ground till the spring, the plants will not come up till the year atter: 
it is the same with all the sorts of Ash; so that when any of their seeds are brought from abroad, 
as they seldom arrive here before the spring, the plants must not be expected to appear till the next 
year; therefore the ground should be kept clean all the summer where they are sown, and not 
disturbed, lest the seeds should be turned out of the ground, or buried too deep to grow : for many 
persons are too impatient to wait a year for the growth of seeds, so that if they do not come up the 
first year, they dig up the ground, and thereby destroy the seeds. 
When the plants come up, they must be kept clean from weeds during the summer; and if they 
make good progress in the seed-bed, they will be fit to transplant by the autumn; therefore there 
should be some ground prepared to receive them, and as soon as their leaves begin to fall, they may 
be transplanted. 
In taking them up, there should be care taken not to break or tear off their roots; to prevent 
which, they should be taken up with a spade, and not drawn up, as is frequently practised; for as 
many of the plants which rise from seeds will outstrip the others in their growth, so it is frequently 
practised to draw up the largest plants, and leave the smaller to grow a year longer before they are 
transplanted; and to avoid hurting those which are left, the others are drawn out by hand, and 
thereby many of their roots are torn off or broken; it is much the better way to take all up, little 
■*- 
Swinburn. 
j' Philos. Trans, Yol. LX. 
J Symonds in Young’s Ann. 3. 161 . 
