g2 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[JAN. 20, 1906. 


tain number of the resulting poults to be turned 
down into his own coverts, and the rest to be put 
upon the market, for those who have been unsuc- 
cessful with their own eggs, to be turned down 
in their woods. Naturally, there is a great deal 
of hard work and anxiety connected with the 
rearing of pheasant chicks. They are delicate 
little things and subject to various ills and dis- 
eases which at times carry them off wholesale. 
They are very much dependent upon the weather, 
cold, *biting winds and frost nipping them like 
flower buds, and in cold, wet seasons great num- 
bers of them die from roup, cramp and gapes. 
In very dry seasons again, unless there are heavy 
dews at night, they do not thrive well, and in 
times of great drought the grass near the coops 
has to be sprinkled regularly with a watering 
can. The number of sitting hens to be provided 
for hatching out the eggs is very considerable, 
and often a high price has to be paid for them; 
a man goes around to the farms with a cart and 
gathers them up. The sitting boxes are arranged 
in long rows with wire runs in front. The hens 
are taken off their eggs every morning and 
turned out into the wire runs in front for a short 
time to feed and drink; about the fourth day is 
the most critical time for the eggs, and at this 
period the hens are only allowed off for a very 
short time. When the eggs hatch off, the young 
chicks, which are very pretty little things, are 
taken away and put in coops with the hen which 
has hatched them off in a separate field, so that 
all are together and the keepers can go around 
and give them food and water regularly. 
To anyone not used to this kind of work it is 
a revelation to go into the food preparing hut 
and see the numbers of bags containing various 
patent preparations, all of which are blended to- 
gether with as much care as a great chef would 
take were he preparing for an imperial banquet. 
Great quantities of eggs are used. ‘These are 
generally Russian, and are packed in boxes con- 
taining about 1,400. The chicks are fed regu- 
larly three times a day, morning, mid-day and 
afternoon. If the weather be warm and sunny 
it is wonderful how quickly they thrive and in- 
crease in size, running about like mice among the 
tufts of grass and picking up spiders, beetles and 
all kinds of insect food. But a spell of cold 
weather seems to shrivel them up. Then there 
are all sorts of deadly diseases ready to attack 
weakly birds, such as roup, cramp, gapes, etc., 
and it is really almost impossible to doctor birds 
of such a tender age. A gun is generally kept 
at hand near one of the huts in case of attack 
by various marauding birds and animals. Rooks 
and carrion crows do much damage at times, and 
I have seen the usually harmless kestrel hawk 
tempted by the sight of being able to procure so 
much food for its own hungry young with the 
minimum of trouble, actually pounce down upon 
and struggle off with a young pheasant poult 
three weeks old. Rats are a great nuisance on 
the rearing field, and are usually shot or trapped 
whenever opportunity occurs, and sloats also, if 
they once get into the wire inclosure will do an 
infinity of harm. Boughs of trees thickly covered 
with leaves are cut down and put close up to 
each coop to afford the young chicks shelter and 
shade from rain and sun and cover to creep un- 
der when hawks or any of their other winged 
foes are about; but unfortunately they do not 
avail themselves of this protection as frequently 
as they might, and often pay the penalty in con- 
sequence. When the height of the egg selling 
season is Over many of the penned hen pheasants 
are turned down in the adjoining woods. Many 
fall a prey to foxes, dogs, etc., but a certain num- 
ber follow their maternal instincts—nest, lay a 
small clutch of eggs, and by no means infre- 
quently rear a late brood. 
As to the pheasants themselves, the present 
example is such a nondescript bird that it is 
hard to say what he is. In different places all 
sorts of crosses have been tried from the pure 
large Chinese bird, with the white collar and 
light colored plumage, the black-necked or old 
English pheasant as it is sometimes called, with 
the maroon colored upper-tail coverts, and the 
beautiful dark green Japanese versicolor, of 
which, except where they have been specially kept 
distinct, it is almost impossible to find any pure- 
bred bird, so much have they interbred among 

themselves. Another that will soon be added to 
the list is the fine handsome Mongolian pheasant, 
a small breeding farm for which has already 
been started. OxLrey GRABHAM, M.A. 
TREES IN WINTER. 
The second of a series, of which the first chapter was 
printed in the issue of Jan. 7. 
Il.—The Ash Family. 
THE various species of ash are the most abun- 
dant American trees belonging to the olive 
family. In general these trees may be recognized 
in winter by the characteristic longitudinally fur- 
rowed surface of the bark of the trunks, by the 
opposite buds, and by the characteristic keys, 
fruits or “seeds” which hang on the trees well 
into the winter. 
Three species of ash are commonly distributed 
throughout eastern North America; they are the 
white or American ash, the red or river ash, and 
the black ash, while the green ash, which is con- 


POLLEN-BEARING FLOWERS. 
sidered by some authorities a variety of the red, 
is occasionally found in the same regions. The 
blue ash occurs in the Mississippi Valley; it may 
be recognized by the four-angled character of the 
twigs. 
The European ash tree has been the subject of 
many traditions and superstitions which to a cer- 
tain extent have been applied to the American 
sorts. One of the most curious of these is the 
one relating to the antipathy of snakes for the 
branches of the trees. So long ago as Pliny 
wrote the superstition apparently was in exist- 
ence, for that author states that the serpent will 
go through fire rather than through the branches 
of an ash tree. 
The White Ash. 
The white ash is distinguished in winter from 
the red and the black by its smooth twigs, with 
no fine hairs on the bark, and by its slender 
paddle-like key-fruits in which the wing projects 
from the end of the basal part that contains the 
seed, as may be seen from the accompanying 
figure. In summer it is distinguished by the fact 
that the leaflets which make up the compound 
leaves have each a short stalk at the base, and 
the main leaf stem to which they are attached 
is smooth and hairless. The leaf blades are dis- 
pe whiter on the under than the upper sur- 
ace, 
_ The curious blossoms of this tree are sent out 
in spring in advance of the leaves. The pollen- 
bearing and the seed-bearing flowers are on dif- 
ferent trees and the pollen is carried from one 
to the other by the wind. The seed-bearing 
flowers are in stalked clusters that elongate as 
the key-fruits mature. 
The white ash grows commonly throughout a 
vast region bounded by Nova Scotia and Minne- 
sota on the north, and Florida and Texas on the 
south. It is greatly prized as a timber tree, the 
wood being utilized for a great variety of pur- 
poses, and it also has many advantages as a 
shade and ornamental tree. 
The Red Ash. 
The easiest way to recognize the red or river 
ash at any season is by the distinct hairiness of 
the bark of the young twigs. In summer the 
leaflets are seen to be distinctly stalked, like 
those of the white ash but differing in that those 
stalks as well as the main leaf stems and more 
or less of the under surface of the leaves are 
covered with fine hairs. In autumn the leaflets 
fall to the ground rather early, becoming first 
yellowish then brownish. 
The key-fruits are similar to those of the 
white ash except that the wing instead of being 
only on the end extends well down the side of 
the basal seed-bearing parts. 
The red ash is a rare tree in comparison with 
the abundant white ash. It occurs along river 
banks and is found over a wide territory extend- 
ing from New Brunswick to Manitoba on the 
north, to Dakota and Missouri on the west, and 
to Alabama and Florida on the south. Like the 
black ash, it is sometimes called the brown ash. 
It is easily started from seed and has almost as 
many claims for landscape planting as has the 
white ash. 
There has been considerable discussion as to 
the relationship of the red ash and the tree which 
is commonly called the green ash, a sort which 
differs chiefly in having the bark of the twigs 
smooth. By many botanists the green ash is 
classified as a variety of the red. The gist of the 
matter seems to have been concisely stated by 
Prof, C. S. Sargent, who writes: 
“East of the Mississippi River the red and 
green ashes grow side by side and retain their 
individual character; but in the west they are 
connected by intermediate forms which can be 
referred to one as well as to the other.” 
The Black Ash. 
In winter the black ash may generally be 
known by the black buds upon smooth hairless 
twigs, and if any key-fruits are present by their 
very broad wings, which surround the flattened. 
basal part that contains the seed. In summer it 
may be known by the fact that the leaflets do not 
have short stalks where they are connected with 
the central leaf stem. 
It is perhaps as a timber tree that the black 
ash is most famous. Even before the settlement 
of America by the whites this was a favorite tree 
with the Indians, who preferred it for the manu- 
facture of baskets. For this purpose the wood is 
beaten with mallets until it is so soft as to easily 
split into long plaits. One of its chief advan- 
tages as a timber tree is that it grows to a great 
height with very little decrease in diameter, and 
it is also extraordinarily free from knots and 
other blemishes. 
The black ash is essentially a tree of swamps 
and low lands. It frequently grows along slug- 
gish streams, but is not so likely to be found 
along ordinary river banks as is the white ash 
or the red ash. It ranges from the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence westward to Manitoba and southward 
to Arkansas and Virginia. 
Like the other ash trees this species sheds its 
foliage rather early in autumn and comes into 
leaf rather late in spring. The latter character- 
istic they share with the European ash, of which 
Tennyson wrote the familiar lines: 
“Why lingereth she to clothe her heart with love, 
Delaying as the tender ash delays 
To clothe itself when all the woods are green?” 
The black ash is also often called the swamp 
ash and brown ash, and in some localities the 
basket ash or hoop ash. It is not so generally 
planted as an ornamental tree as is the white 
ash, but it may be used to advantage in wet soil 
where slender tall trees are desired. In such | 
situations it appears to best advantage in groups — 
rather than singly. CLARENCE M. WEED, 
