22 
F R A X 
and of a lighter green ; the flowers come out from the 
fide of the branches, are of a piirp.le colour, and appear 
in the fpring before the leaves come out. This tree is of 
hunnble growth, feldom rifing to more than fifteen or fix- 
teen feet in height in England. The lower parts of the 
mountains in Calabria abound with the ni;inna-afh, which 
grows fpontaneoufly, and without any culture; except 
that the woodmen cut down all the ftrcng ftems rh.at 
grow above tlte thicknefs of a man’s leg. Towards the 
end of July, the gatherers of manna make an horizontal 
gafli, inclining upwards, in the bole of the tree. As the 
liquor never oozes out the firft day, another cut is given 
on the fecond, and then the woodman fixes the (talk of 
a maple-leaf in the upper tvound, and the end of the leaf 
in the lower one, fo as to form a cup to receive the gum 
as it diftils from each flafh. The feafon continues about 
a month. The men have only three carlines (is. ijd.) 
for every rotolo ; which quantity, containing thirty-tliree 
ounces and a tltird, is fold for twenty-four carlini and 
three-quarters, or fomewhat more than ten fhillings; if 
it be iit tubular pieces, the price rifes one-third, Thefe 
pieces are called manna in cannoli, and thefe regular ttibes 
are produced, by applying to the incifion thin draw, or 
fmall bits of fhrubs, upon which the manna runs as it 
oozes out. The trees fucceed bed in an eaflern expofure, 
in order to warm the juices in tlie morning, and to infpif- 
fate thofe which the heat has fweated out in tlie evening. 
3. Fraxinus ornus, or flowering afh-tree ; leaflets ovate- 
oblong, ferrate, petioled ; flowers with petals. Mr. Miller 
makes two fpecies out of tiiis; his F. paniculata has only 
or chiefly male flowers. He thus deferibes them: F. ornus 
is a low tree, about the fame lieight as the preceding ; 
the leaves are much fmaller and narrower than thofe of 
ottr common afh, but are ferrate, and of tlie fame dark 
colour ; the flowers have petals. F. paniculata was raifed, 
before 1730, by Dr. Uvedale, at Enfield, from feeds which 
were brought from Italy by Dr. William Slierard. The 
leaves have but three or four pairs of leaflets, which are 
fnort, broad, I'mooth, of a lucid green, and irregularly 
ferrate ; the midrib is jointed, and fwells where the leaf¬ 
lets come out. Tlie flowers grow in loofe panicles at the 
ends of the branches, are of a white herbaceous colour, 
moSIy males, and appear in May. The frudtification is 
feen on the Botany Plate X. fig. 23. 
4. Fraxinus Americana, or American afh-tree: leaflets 
quite entire, petioles cylindric. The fruits or keys are 
the fame as in the common afli, but much fmaller, and 
narrow. Mr. Miller has two forts of this alio, which he 
thus deferibes: F. Novae Anglias was raifed from feeds 
fent from New England in the year 1724 by Mr. Moore. 
The leaves have but three, or at moft four, pairs of leaf¬ 
lets, which are placed far diftant from each other, and 
the odd leaflet runs out into a very long point; they are 
of a light green, and have no ferratures on their edges. 
T'his tree flioots into Ihong irregular branches, but does 
not grow to a large fize in the trunk. F. Caroliniana was 
raifed from feeds fent from Carolina in the year 1724.by 
Mr, Catefbv. The leaves have feldom more than three 
pairs of leaflets, tlie lower being the leaft, and the upper 
the larged ; thefe are about five inches long and two 
broad, of a light green colour, and flightly ferrate; the 
midrib is t.aper, and has fliort downy liairs on it : the 
fjeds are broader than thofe of the common afli, and are 
of a very light c.>lour. The fiid of thefe is alfo called 
the zvhite ajh, and the fecond the red ajli. A third named 
the biack aJh, and other varieties, may be found in tlie 
nurferies. 
Propagation and Culture. The common afh propagates 
iifelfin plenty by the feeds v\liich icatter in the autumn, 
fo that wliere the feeds happen to fall in places where 
cattle do not come, there will be plenty of the plants 
come up in the fpring; but, if you would have a confi- 
oerable wood of afh at once, prepare your ground as you 
would for corn, and fow good dore of keys, fome crab- 
keinels, &c. with oats. Take ott' your crop of corn in 
I N U S. 
its feafon, and the year following the ground will be co¬ 
vered with young allies, which will eitlicr be fit to dand 
^^''ors years aft-r. And thefe you 
will find to be far better than any you cun gather out of 
Hie woods, efpecially fuckers which are worth nothin*^. 
The fooner they are removed, the better; and adies of 
two years thus taken out of the luirferv, fnall out-drip 
thofe often taken out of the hedge. You may keep the 
keys in land for a winter before you fow them, in a co. 
vered airy place. Gather the feeds or keys from healthy 
young thriving trees’in Oftober or November; having 
prepared tlie beds, lower them about an inch, by raking 
fome of the earth into the alleys; fow the feed mod£ 
rately tiiick, and then throw the earth back again lightly 
with a fpade, or fift it over them an inch thick, and rake 
It level. In fpring, with a very fmall light iron rake, the 
teetli about an inch afunder, rake off the mofs, pull up 
the weeds, and fift a little earth over them again. The 
fecond fpring, in the fird open weather in February, rake 
off the earth as before very gently, fift frelli over them 
half an inch thick, and in March and April tiie younv 
plants will appear in plenty. In October fift fome' coaU 
aflies half an inch thick over ttiem. Next fpring pre¬ 
pare fome beds fix feet wide, with a path of two ft^et be¬ 
tween each : plant all of a fize in eadi bed, at one foot 
fquare, fird fiiortening the tap roots, and alfo the fide 
ones. They mud then be planted out into your luirfery 
in rows three feet afunder, and each plant at one foot 
didance, where they are to remain till they are finally 
planted out. ^ 
Mr. Boutcher recommends the feeds being fpread in 
an airy loft, and turned till dry, which will be in tliree 
or four w’ceks, and then mixed with fand ; tobe.fown the 
beginning of April, on frelh mellow foil, on beds three 
and a half feet broad, with alleys eighteen inches, and 
covered three quarters of an inch deep. The feeds will 
not appear till the fucceeding fpring; during iliis time 
the beds mud be kept clean, and in February they mud 
be raked oyer: if a little rich mould is thrown over 
them, it will much promote the growth of the feedlinfs. 
I'he following February or March remove them, and 
plant them in drills eighteen or twenty inches afunder 
and eight or nine inches in the drill. In October remove 
them again, planting them in lines three and a half feet 
afunder, and fifteen or fixteen incites in the line, where 
they may remain three years. The trees will now be 
feven or eight feet high, of a proper fize for extenfive 
plantations. W here large ones are wanted, remove them 
every fourth year. 
Stocks for budding diould be planted out in the nurfe- 
ry, a foot afunder, and two feet didant in the rows.^ 
When they arq one year old, and about the thicknefs of a 
bean draw, they will be ot a proper fize for working. A 
little after Midfummer is the time for the operation, and 
care mud beobferved not to bind the eye too tight. They 
need not be iinloofed before the end of September. In 
March the head of the dock fliould be taken off a little 
above the eye, and by the end of the fummer following, 
if the land be good, they will have made drong (hoot's. 
The variegated forts can be increafed only in ihis°manner. 
The other forts are commonly propagated in tlie nurfe¬ 
ries by budding or ingrafting upon the common afh ; but 
are not fo valuable as thofe which are raifed from feeds, 
becaufe tlie dock grows much faller than the grafts ; fo 
that the lower part of the trunk, fo tar as the dock rifes, 
will often be twice the fize of the upper ; and if the trees 
dand much expofed to the wind, the grafts are frequent¬ 
ly broken od' from the dock, after they are grown to a 
large fize. F. paniculata is generally planted for orna- 
nient, the flowers making a fine appearance when they are 
in beauty, for almod every branch is terminated by a 
large loofe panicle ; fo that when the trees are large, and 
covered with flowers, they are didinguifhable at a great 
didance. All the other forts ferve to make a variety in 
plantations, but liave little beauty to recommend them ; 
a and 
