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interior of Spain, I picked up the seed of an ash near the Escorial; but the leaves having fallen, I did not ascertain the species, but sending them to England they vegetated, and are now growing in Northumberland. This is the same tree, and I have never seen it farther north than New Castile; at the same time I think it probably may exist as far as Leon, where, the instant you cross the chain, the Fraxinus excelsior, our common species, supplies its place ; at least, I could make out no difference. The timber of F. lentiscifolia is heavy and less elastic than that of our species, but the elegance of the tree, and its perfect hardiness in a dry soil, should make it more common than it is in our ornamental collections.”
This species’ replaces the common ash in Algeria, where it is only found wild in quantity in the forests of the plains and along the banks of streams and rivers ; but it ascends as isolated trees occasionally to 6000 feet in the mountains, and is reported to be common in the Djurdjura range. I saw it growing in fields near the forest of Akfadou, inland from Bougie, where the trees have a mutilated appearance, owing to the annual lopping of their branches by the natives, who feed their cattle with the leaves.? In Algeria® the tree attains a large size, and grows in good soil with great rapidity, reaching a height of 90 feet by 3 feet in diameter at seventy years old. The wood is similar to that of the common ash, though slightly inferior in quality. Dr. Trabut informed me that he had sent seed to Australia, where the tree is said to thrive well, succeeding better than the common ash.
A tree at Chiswick House measured, in 1903, 75 feet by 7 feet 5 inches. Another at Whitton, near Hounslow, in 1905 was 56 feet by 6 feet 2 inches. At Williamstrip Park, Gloucestershire, in 1904 Elwes measured a tree 60 feet by 6 feet 9 inches.
The variety lentiscifolia has been identified by us at Syon, 55 feet by 5 feet 6 inches in 1905; at Hardwick, Bury St. Edmunds, a grafted tree, 72 feet by 6 feet 3 inches below the graft and 7 feet 10 inches above it; at Bicton, another grafted tree, over 50 feet by 6 feet; and at Stowe, also a grafted tree, 68 feet by 7 feet 8 inches. From the similarity in appearance of the trees at Hardwick, Stowe, and Bicton, there is little doubt that they were all propagated and planted at the same time. Elwes has also seen at the Hendre, Monmouthshire, a tree of similar appearance, which was 71 feet high by 5 feet 4 inches below, and 6% feet above the graft. There is also a healthy grafted tree at Ware Park, Herts, growing on sandy soil, which Mr. H. Clinton Baker measured as 78 feet by 6 feet 3 inches in 1908. Another (Plate 245) on the lawn at Rougham Hall, the seat of F. K. North, Esq., is 76 feet high by 83 feet above the graft, and 74 feet below it. A third at Ribston Park, Yorkshire, was 68 feet by 6 feet 7 inches.
It is hardy as far north as Denmark, where Elwes measured in the park of Count Friis, in 1908, at Boller near Horsens, a grafted tree about 60 feet by 4 feet 4 inches, which was bearing immature fruit. (A.H.)
1 The Algerian tree has been distinguished as var. numidica (F. numidica, Dippel), with broader and larger leaflets ; but specimens gathered by me at Akfadou are typical angustifolia.
2 M. Maurice L. de Vilmorin, in Bull. Soc. Amis des Arbres, 1895, states that this ash is much planted around villages in Kabylia, where its leaves, which are stripped off the tree in September, are an indispensable fodder for cattle, sheep, and goats at this season when no grass is available. The foliage of a single tree is usually worth 50 francs; and he was shown a very old wide-spreading tree, the owner of which sold its leaves annually for 300 francs.
3 Cf. Lefebvre, Forêts de l'Algérie, 348 (1900).