White ash

“ The same velvety down covers the new shoots. Summer and winter this sign never fails.
Red ash seeds are extremely long and slender, and have the most graceful outlines of all the darts that various ash trees bear. The heavy, round body has a wing twice its length by which the wind carries the seeds far away. Very gradually an ash tree launches its seeds. It is easy to understand why the family is so scattered through any woods, for the wind is the sower. The reddish bark of the twigs and trunk of this tree seems to be the justification for its name. Its brown wood is inferior to white ash. ”

“ Tool handles and oars are made of white ash and it is superior as fuel. The reddish-brown heart-wood, with paler sap-wood, is tough, elastic, hard, and heavy. It is not durable in soil and becomes brittle with age.
Ash trees are late in coming into leaf. When all the forest is green and full of blossoms, the ash trees are still naked. Not until May do the rusty yellow winter buds of the white ash swell and throw out on separate trees their staminate and pistillate flower clusters from the axils of last year's foliage. ”

“ The white ash, indeed, is said to be as desirable as the hickory—our American tree being considered superior for timber to that of Europe, which it much resembles. When used for fuel, it has the peculiarity of burning nearly as well in a green state as when dry, and the timber also scarcely requires any seasoning. The black ash, more especially a northern tree, is abundant here; it is smaller than the white, and is much used by the Indian basket-makers, being thought rather preferable to the white for their purposes. ”

“ Several of the largest trees, well over a foot in trunk diameter, grow at the lower limestone outcrop. Ash is most abundant at this level and at the terrace just below it. On the one slope where it is concentrated, ash is one of the most common trees, growing in association with American elm, chestnut oak, black oak, and shagbark hickory. This area is one of the most mesic on the Reservation. The soil is usually damp, with thick leaf litter and rich humus. In hilltop fields, formerly cultivated or pastured, saplings of white ash are among the most prominent invaders. ”

“ The seed itself is round and pointed, on branching stalks that form clusters from six to eight inches long.
As a street tree the white ash deserves much more general favor in cities than it has yet achieved, for it is straight and symmetrical, and its light foliage grows in irregular, wavy masses, through which some sunlight can [Pg 204] always sift and let grass grow under the tree. This tree is a rapid grower, perfectly hardy in most sections of the country, and has no serious insect enemies. The foliage turns to brownish purple and yellow in the autumn. ”

“ There are slight differences in the leaves and seeds, but, as in other trees, when we have once seen an ash seed we can always thereafter distinguish an ash tree. Fig. 102 shows the seed of the red ash. It is a winged seed, with the seed part inclosed by the wing.
Fig. 102. Red Ash
The compound leaf of the white ash has from five to seven leaflets and the black ash has from seven to [93] eleven. The wood is hard, tough, and elastic, has a handsome grain, and is used for many purposes besides making oars, such as furniture, carriages, and those farm implements which require strength. ”

“ In the South the white ash is undersized and the wood is of poor quality. In the Northeastern and Central states it is one of the most important and largest of our timber trees, with wood more valuable than any other ash. ”

“ The common name, green ash, should be applied to this species to separate it from the true white ash, and the next.
In ash forest plantings on the Clark County State Forest, it is to be noted that this and the next species bear fruit while the trees are as small as 1.5 cm. in diameter, while the white and Biltmore ash which are much older and 6-8 cm. in diameter have never borne fruit. This species and the next bear fruit oftener and in greater abundance than the white or Biltmore ash. ”

“ Fig. 23.
Form and size: A large tree with a straight trunk.
Range: Eastern North America.
Soil and location: Rich, moist soil.
Enemies: In cities it is very often attacked by sucking insects.
Value for planting: The white ash grows rapidly. On account of its insect enemies in cities, it should be used more for forest planting and only occasionally for ornament.
Commercial value: It has a heavy, tough, and strong wood, which is valuable in the manufacture of cooperage stock, agricultural implements, and carriages. It is superior in value to the black ash. ”

“ The uses of the wood are practically the same as the white ash.
The fruit and foliage of this species most closely resembles that of the black ash, from which it can be distinguished by its greenish-yellow foliage and the habitat in which it grows.
7. Fraxinus nìgra Marshall. Black Ash. Plate 130. Medium sized, tall and straight trees with a light gray bark, broken up into small thin plates on old trunks; twigs round, robust and smooth at maturity; leaves 2.5-4 dm. long, leaflets generally 7-11 and 7-13 cm. long, sessile, the terminal one generally on a stalk 0.5-1 cm. ”

“ When young it is slim and graceful, but it grows sturdier as it approaches maturity, lifting stout, spreading branches above a tall, massive trunk. In the forest the head is narrow, but in the open the dome of a white ash is as broad and symmetrical as that of a white oak. A gray rind covers the [Pg 203] young branches and the bark is gray. The foliage has white lining and each of the seven leaflets has a short stalk. These are all characters that distinguish the white ash from other species and enable one to name it at a glance. ”

“ It is seldom listed in statistics of woods which go to sawmills, yet it is known that a good many logs find their way to mills, while wagon makers and slack coopers employ it in producing their commodities. The tree is an abundant seeder, and the seeds continue to fall during most of the winter.
Red Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) is neither a large tree nor very abundant, yet it has a wide range and is put to use wherever lumbermen find it convenient. The lumber generally passes in the market as white ash, and for most purposes it is as good, but is rated lower than that wood in elasticity. ”

“ The wood of the white ash is extremely valuable on account of its toughness and elasticity. It is preferred to all other native woods for small tool handles, such athletic implements as rackets, bats, and oars, and agricultural implements. ”

“ Notes.—Red Ash is occasionally found along some of the streams of the State but does not grow in sufficient quantities to be of any commercial importance. It can usually be distinguished from the White Ash by its pubescent twigs and petioles, and its somewhat different fruits. A variety of this species, lanceolata, is also to be found in some places along the streams. ”

“ There are about twelve species native to North America. The best known are: Common Ash, a large tree one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet high, growing wild in southern Europe and northern Asia. White Ash, a large tree forty-five to ninety feet high; Nova Scotia to Florida, westward to Minnesota and Texas. Green Ash, forty to fifty feet high, Vermont to Florida, intermittently to Utah and Arizona. Red Ash, a small tree, rarely more than forty feet high, growing in moist soil from New Brunswick to South Dakota, Florida, Alabama and Missouri. ”

“ In general appearance the wood resembles white ash, but it is usually considered stronger and more springy. The trunks of young trees are largely or entirely sapwood. Sometimes no heartwood is formed until an age of [418] seventy or eighty years is reached. Many manufacturers of ash tool handles prefer this species to any other ash, because of its thick, white sapwood. It is often made into handles for hoes, rakes, shovels, pitchforks, spades, and snaths for scythes. Makers of vehicles draw liberally upon this wood within its range, as do furniture makers and the manufacturers of flooring. ”

“ The red ash is very much like the white, but the wood is less valuable. It is a spreading, broad-headed tree, and the trunk is erect and branching. It is not so tall as the black ash, yet its trunk is three times as thick. ”

“ It is used chiefly for fuel.
114 WHITE ASH
Fraxinus americana L.
White ash is found in East Texas to the valley of the Trinity River. It grows best in the rich moist soils of upper bottomlands. The bark is gray and furrowed, the branchlets smooth and gray with rust-colored winter buds.
WHITE ASH (Twig and fruit, one-half natural size; leaf, one-third natural size)
The compound opposite LEAVES are generally straight, 8 to 12 inches long, with 5 to 9 (usually 7) sharp pointed leaflets, dark green above and paler and whitish beneath. ”

“ The winged seeds ripen in May, and are an inch or less in length. The largest trees are fifty feet high and two or three in diameter; but generally the trees are much smaller. The wood is strong, heavy, and hard. The annual rings are marked by one or more rows of open ducts, and the medullary rays are inconspicuous. The heartwood is light brown, the sapwood lighter. This ash is employed within its range for various purposes, but it is not of sufficient abundance to constitute an important commodity. In market it is not distinguished from white ash. ”

“ The Weeping Ash is only an accidental variety of the common kind. The leaves of the Ash come out late and fall early; but the tree may easily be recognised when quite bare by the greyness of its bark and its black buds. It will grow in any soil; but it is injurious to arable land, from its roots spreading widely near the surface.
The Manna, or flowering Ash, (Ornus europæus) , differs widely from the common Ash in its flowers, which are white, with a corolla divided into four long narrow segments. The two stamens have long filaments, with a small pistil (c) , the stigma of which is notched. ”

“ If it is finished in the natural color belonging to ash, the color of the ground can be made from ochre added to white lead as the base color, using more or less of it as a lighter or darker shade is desired.
96. The graining of ash in oil is done in much the same manner as that which is related for oil grain of oak in paragraphs 75 and 76. As the growth in the American varieties is straighter grained than that of oak, there will be no difficulty in wiping it out, only that the coarser growth must be reproduced as naturally as possible. ”

“ To take my start the next morning from so lofty a headland: to feel new life thrill through every limb from the early sun; to drink of the spring which the cliff overshadows where it gushes forth among mossy stones at the root of an ash; to inhale the glorious breeze that tempered the heat, was a delightful beginning of a day’s walk. ”

“ The sooner they are cut down and burnt the better.
There are between fifty and sixty exotic species of ash, but among them there is only one known to me as specially desirable for ornamental planting, namely, the Manna Ash (Fraxinus ornus) , producing a profusion of creamy-white plumes of blossom in June. This pretty tree is the source of the manna of commerce, a sweet and mildly laxative substance obtained by tapping the stem in late summer and allowing the sap which flows from the wound to coagulate. ”

“ Lumbermen who operate in swamps occasionally bring out a few ash logs with cypress and tupelo. No tests seem to have been made of the wood. Trees are sometimes 120 feet high and three in diameter above the swelled bases.
Water Ash (Fraxinus caroliniana) is much lighter in weight than any other American ash, and the wood is also lighter in color. It is weaker and less elastic than any other, and is lower in fuel value. It weighs less than white pine. It grows in deep swamps from southern Virginia to Florida and westward in swamps to Texas. ”

“ Some ash timber is white at heart, and some red; the white is usually the strongest and best. Some trees which have been grown on hillsides much exposed to constant winds present a remarkably wrinkled appearance through their whole length, and it is scarcely possible to plane their timber smooth; this is the toughest of all ash timber. Parts of ash-trees are sometimes found of a yellowish-brown colour, accompanied by a fetid acid smell. ”

“ Remarks.—The wood is yellowish-white and before seasoning very much resembles ash for which it was generally sold. It has good bending qualities and is now much sought after for hoops. It was formerly often known as hoop ash. The supply is now becoming scarce, but when bought sells for the same price as good white elm.
Some writers include under the name Celtis occidentalis only those forms which are small trees and have ovate, short-pointed leaves. ”

“ At first there is nothing to indicate your approach to anything extraordinary: you enter a great chasm, where the crags rise high and singularly rugged, sprinkled here and there with a small fir or graceful ash, where the bright green turf, sloping up into all the ins and outs of the dark gray cliff, and the little brook babbling out towards the sunshine, between great masses of rock fallen from above, enliven the otherwise gloomy scene. You might fancy yourself in a great roofless cave ”

“ Once past the brow and a view opens over a hilly landscape in the opposite direction, repeating the characteristics of Bohemian scenery—large unfenced fields, with clumps of firs and patches of forest on the highest swells, and the road, in long undulations, running between rows of birch and mountain-ash. ”

“ But Carlsbad is nearly seven hours distant, and we must hasten onwards. The road still descends: the prospect opens over forests far broader than on the Saxon side: valleys branch off, and the scenery improves. Rocks choke the brooks, and burst out from the slopes; rows of ash, lime, and cherry-trees, bordering the road, succeed to the firs, and large whitewashed houses with tall roofs to the shabby cottages. Then iron works; and little needle factories driven by a mere spoutful of water rattling and buzzing merrily as grasshoppers. ”