the Ash: A genus of the diocia order, belonging to the polygamia class of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 44th order. Sepiaris. FRE

Sepia. There is no hermaphrodite calyx, or it is quadripartite; and there is either no corolla, or it is tetrapetalous: there are two stamens; one pistil; one lanceolate seed; and the pistil of the female is lanceolate. There are six species; of which the most useful is the common ash, which is so well known, that it needs no description. If a wood of these trees is rightly managed, it will turn greatly to the advantage of the owner: for, by the underwood, which will be fit to cut every eight or ten years, there will be a continual income, more than sufficient to pay the rent of the ground and all other charges; and still there will be a stock preserved for timber, which in a few years will be worth 40s. or 50s. per tree. This tree flourishes best in groves, but grows very well in rich soil in open fields. It bears transplanting and lopping. In the north of Lancashire they lay the tops of these trees to feed the cattle in autumn when the grass is on the decline; the cattle peeling off the bark as food. The wood hath the singular property of being nearly as good when young as when old. It is hard and tough, and is much used to make the tools employed in husbandry. The ashes of the wood afford very good potash. The bark is used in tanning calf-skin. A slight infusion of it appears of a pale yellowish colour when viewed between the eye and the light; but when looked down upon, or placed between the eye and an opake object, appears blue. This blueness is destroyed by the addition of an acid, but recovered by alkalies. The seeds are acrid and bitter.

In the church-yard of Lochaber in Scotland, Dr. Walker measured the trunk of a dead ash tree, which at five feet from the surface of the ground was 58 feet in circumference.—Horses, cows, sheep, and goats eat it; but it spoils the milk of cows, so that it should not be planted in dairy farms.