THE DEVONSHIRE ASH-TREE CHARM. 
149 
According to the Encyclopcedia Britannica, article Planting, 
" The ash ... is in most parts of Britain next in value as a 
timber-tree to the oak. The wood is chiefly used in the manufac- 
ture of agricultural implements, such as ploughs, handles to spades, 
mattocks, handles to carpenter's implements, carts, waggons, thresh- 
ing machines, &c. Young ash-trees, and ash poles and suckers, are 
also much in demand for crate-ware, hoops, whip-handles, walking 
sticks, and especially for hop poles. . . ." 8th ed., xvii., 758. 
Mr. Prideaux John Selby (op. tit., p. 94-6) says, " The wood of 
the ash, though not so durable as the matured or heart-wood of the 
oak, surpasses it, and all our other indigenous trees, in toughness 
and elasticity of fibre, on which account it is almost universally 
used in the fabrication of all articles where these qualities are 
particularly required. Thus it forms the principal material in the 
making of such instruments and machines as are liable to sudden 
strains and shocks, and therefore is extensively employed by the 
maker of agricultural implements, by the coach-maker, wheel- 
wright, &c. It is also used almost exclusively for the handles of 
spades and shovels, as well as for axes, picks, &c, and its elasticity 
renders it one of the best materials for boat oars. In many parts 
of England milk -pails are made of thin boards of this wood, each 
rolled into a hollow cylinder, with a bottom affixed to it, and 
Loudon recommends it as particularly adapted for kitchen tables, 
on account of its not being liable to splinter when under the 
operation of scouring. . . . 
" From the early age of five or six years the planter begins to derive 
profit from the Ash, for we find that at this age it is fit to make 
into walking sticks ; ... at twelve or fourteen it is of a size suffi- 
cient to form hop-poles, hoops for casks, crates, and light hurdles. 
. . . When older, or as soon as it has attained a diameter of four 
or six inches, it becomes valuable to the cartwright and coach- 
maker, and at this size it cuts up to advantage for the handles of 
pitchforks, axes, picks, and agricultural implements. It also makes 
excellent staves for the barrels in which pickled herrings are 
packed It also produces excellent potash, to make which 
the tops and loppings are generally consumed when the tree is 
felled." 
According to Evelyn (op. oit. p. 150) "The use of Ash is (next 
