Box 22, Folder 8: Trees of Wisconsin 1859, 1867

222. Wisconsin Agriculture.

etc., for chairs, wooden bowls, hoops, staves, sap-troughs, blocks, pins, pump boxes, hand spikes, etc., for ship building, and especially for oars. No other wood is so valuable for oars, large numbers of which are annually made and sent down to the sea from the forests in the interior. The wood is quite soft when first cut, and easily worked, but becomes hard when dry and seasoned. It takes its name of White Ash from the light color of the wood. From the rapidity of its growth the annual rings or layers of wood are of unusual thickness. The tree grows straight and tall, the grain even, so as to split readily into straight rails.

It is reported than an Ash leaf rubbed upon swellings caused by the bite of mosquitoes, removes the itching and soreness immediately. The same effect is produced on the poison occasioned by the sting of the honey bee. It is also stated that the rattlesnake will not approach the place where the White Ash grows; that a branch, with its leaves, is a sure protection against that poisonous reptile; and that weeds and grain will scarcely grow in its shade. But these assertions require confirmation.

The flowers of the White Ash come out in May, and the curious looking fruit is ripe in July. For ornamental purposes the Ash is not a favorite; for though when young it assumes a beautiful form, age will soon break its charms; and one writer recommends that it be planted only in some inconspicuous corner among other trees.

Downing considered the highest and most characteristic beauty of the White Ash to be the coloring which its leaves put on in autumn, when it can often be distinguished from the surrounding trees for four or five miles, by the peculiar and beautiful deep brownish purple of its fine mass of foliage. The color, though not lively, is so full and rich as to produce the most pleasing harmony with the bright yellows and reds of the other deciduous trees, and the deep green of the pines and cedars.

The figure represents a leaf of one fourth the size of nature, and the fruit of the full size.

20. Fraxinus sambucifolia, of Lamarck.-Black Ash.

The Black Ash usually grows in swamps or very wet places. It may be distinguished from the White Ash by the greater

223. Communications.

number of pairs of leaflets, which are sessile, with an obtuse base, and by the absence of a calyx in the flowers. It is sometimes very difficult to distinguish the species by the bark alone. The Black Ash is much the most abundant kind in Wisconsin, finding many places suited to its growth in the eastern and northern parts of the State. It is a smaller and much less valuable tree, though it is applied to many useful purposes. The wood is tougher and more flexible than that of the White Ash, qualities that render it more valuable for hoops. The thin layers of wood are easily separated into long narrow strips, or splints, formerly much used for baskets and for chair bottoms. The large knots are used for wooden bowls, not being liable to crack. The flowers appear and the fruit ripens about the same time as the White Ash.

The Blue Ash (F. quadrangulata, Michx.,) is found in Ohio and in Illinois. It is said to be found also about Lake Superior, in upper Michigan. If so, it undoubtedly exists in Wisconsin, although I have never seen it here.

The Red Ash (F. pubesceus, Waltr.-F. tomentosa, Michx.,) is a native of Ohio and Michigan; and the Green Ash (F. jaglandifolia, Lam.,) is also an Ohio species. These are all inferior in useful qualities to the White Ash, and are not very abundant in the places where they are found.

224. Wisconsin Agriculture.

Division III.-Apetalous.

Order VI. Urticaceae.-The Nettle Family.

To this order belong the Elms and Hackberries, constituting a section or sub-order named Ulmaceae, the Elm Family.

21. Ulmus Fulva, of Michaux.-Slippery Elm.

This Elm is less common than the next species, in Wisconsin. It has a more rapid and vigorous growth, and coarser foliage. It is wanting in the beauty and graceful form of the common Elm, and is therefore much less valuable as an ornamental tree. Another serious objection to the tree for purposes of ornament, is the mucilage of the inner bark, which form its valuable medicinal qualities, tempts us to destroy the tree for the sake of the bark! The wood is generally used for the same purposes as that of the White or common Elm; but neither of them possesses any great value. The flowers are expanded before the leaves, in April, and by the end of May, or early in June, the fruit is ripe. The figure shows the flat, winged fruit, of the natural size, and a leaf reduced to one fourth the natural size.

22. Ulmus Americana, of Linnaeus.-American or White Elm.

Though the American Elm is inferior to the European species in hardness, strength, and other useful qualities, yet it has its uses; and those who have seen it in its full growth under favorable circumstances, will readily agree with Michauz in ranking it as "the most magnificent vegetable of the temperate zone." It is therefore for its elegant and stately qualities as an ornamental tree that this species of Elm demands our care and attention. No one can visit New Haven, in Connecticut, without being fully impressed with the grandeur of this noble forest tree, nor without a degree of thankfulness and gratitude to those high minded and generous men who, long ago, by their care and fore-

225. Communications.

thought have secured for us the means of enjoying its deep and grateful shade, and its magnificent appearance to the eye.

What these men have done for New Haven, let us hope the people of our State will do for the hundreds of towns and villages now just springing, as if by magic, into healthful and vigorous existence. Much of the interest we feel on visiting the old New England towns, is derived from the rows and groups of fine large Elms, with their light and graceful, often drooping branches, spreading to a great distance from the trunk.

The "Great Elm Tree" on Boston Common attracts the attention of everyone who visits that delightful spot in the midst of a dense population. It is cherished as a sacred relic by all true hearted Bostonians-an iron fence protects it from all others. It has recently been figured and fully described by Dr. John C. Warren, whose residence on Park street fronts directly towards the tree. His little work on the subject is full of interest. Many historical associations are connected with the "great tree;" and its age is ascertained to be such that it is supposed to have been in existence longer than Boston itself. Of all the native trees that witnessed the first settlement of the city, this one alone remains. At one foot above the ground it is 22 1-2 feet in circumstance; the first branch is 16 1-2 feet above the ground; the whole height is 72 1-2 feet, and the extremities of its branches cover an average diameter of over 100 feet. But this is not the largest Elm tree known in the country. Let us reflect, when transplanting to our public and private grounds the small sapling, bereft of its beautiful head and robbed of its life giving roots, that if we succeed in making the bare pole grow at all, it may have a history as interesting and may attain an age and dimensions equal to the Great Tree on Boston Common.

Fortunately the Elm is very tenacious of life, and will in most cases withstand the careless mode of transplanting usually adopted. When its branches are shortened, it sends forth long and vigorous shoots, lined with dense rows of leaves. It is also of rapid growth-assuming when quite young its characteristic lightness, elegance, and graceful beauty. The comparative uselessness of the Elm is in favor as an ornamental tree, and

A2.

226. Wisconsin Agriculture.

often causes it to be preserved, when farms are cleared, for the purposes of shade, being, as one is often told, "good for nothing else."

The flowers appear in May, and the seeds are ripe early in June; they may be then immediately planted. But, the tree is so common in our forests, of all stages of growth, that abundant supplies of young, healthy, and vigorous trees may always be obtained without resort to the seed, or any other mode of propagation. The growth, under favorable circumstances, will be about half an inch in diameter each year.

There is one other species of Elm, first noticed and described by Mr. David Thomas, of New York, and hence named Thomas' Elm (Ulmus racemosa, Thomas,) which may probably hereafter be found in Wisconsin. It is usually confounded with the other kinds, but may always be known by the flowers, which are on pedicels arranged in the form of a compound raceme. The branches are mostly covered, or winged, with a corky excrescence. In other species the flowers are in small clusters, and nearly sessile.