‘23 
« The nsh asks not a depth of fruitful mould, 
Hut, like Frugality, on little means 
It thrives, and high o’er creviced ruins spreads 
Its ample shade, or in the naked rock 
That nods in air, with graceful limbs depends.” 
In allusion to this choice of abode Sir Walter Scott 
says, — 
“ Aloft, the' ash and warrior oak 
Cast anchor in the refted rock ;" 
and Thomson,— 
11 Ye ashes wild, resounding o’er the steep.” 
But, though always apparently most at home in 
mountainous and rocky scenery, the ash by no means 
confines itself to such situations, for it grows well in any 
soil, and abundantly rewards the trouble of the planter. 
According to Hunter, there are three species of the 
genus Fraxinus Ornus : the flowering ash, which yields 
manna; Fraxinus americana; and Fraxinus excelsior, 
our beautiful common ash, of which the weeping ash 
is a variety. 
Perhaps no tree can boast more legendary renown. 
From it, if we may credit Hesiod, sprang the brazen 
race of men. The Edda of Woden gives it similar honour, 
c 4 
