WHITE ASH
(Fraxinus Americana)

This tree is generally called white or gray ash, or simply ash. American ash is a translation of its botanical name and is not often used in business transactions in this country. In some parts of the South the term cane ash is occasionally employed, but there seems to be no agreement among those who use the name as to what it means. This is the common ash in the lumber trade. There are more than a dozen species in the United States, but white ash goes to market in larger amounts than all others together. This is known in a general way, but exact figures cannot be given, because statistics of the cut of different species of ash are not kept separate.

The range of this tree covers at least a million square miles, and all or part of every state east of the Mississippi river and west of it from Nebraska to Texas. It is reported cut for lumber in thirty states. The various ashes are lumbered in thirty-nine states. Ash does not occur in pure stands but is scattered in forests of other species, sometimes growing in small clumps. It is difficult to name an average size for the tree, because climate and soil control the growth over a large area where conditions vary. Trees 120 feet high and six feet in diameter are said to have stood in the primeval forests in the lower Ohio valley; but logs four feet through are seldom seen now. Trees seventy or eighty feet high and three in diameter are above the average in any region where this tree is now lumbered. Some of the old planted trees of New England are five or six feet through, and are finely proportioned, but growing as they do in the open, they have larger crowns than are found in forest trees.

All species of ash have compound leaves, and those of white ash are from eight to twelve inches long. The under sides of the leaflets are white, and some persons have this fact in mind when they call the species white ash, while others refer to the bark, and still others to the wood. It is a characteristic of the tree that most of the leaves grow near the ends of the limbs. For that reason the crown appears open when viewed from below, and the larger limbs and branches are naked. The leaves demand light, and they arrange themselves on the extremities of the limbs to get it. When the tree is crowded, it sheds its lower limbs and its crown rises rapidly until it reaches abundance of light. This produces long trunks in forests.

The boles are often not quite straight, but have several slight crooks, yet keep close to a general perpendicular line. That form is due to a peculiarity of growth. The leading shoot of a growing ash has more than one terminal bud. If a side bud pushes ahead, the stem leans a little in that direction; next, a bud on the other side may gain the ascendancy, producing a slight lean for a few years in that direction; or two side buds may develop simultaneously, causing a forked trunk. Mature trees often carry the history of these peculiarities of growth.

The seeds of white ash are equipped for moderate flight. The wing is large, but the seed attached to the end of it is heavy enough to give it a sharp tilt downward when it begins its flight through the air, and it generally shoots at a steep angle toward the ground. It is not apt to whirl through the air with a gliding motion like a maple seed. Consequently, ash seeds are not great travelers. They are dispersed with economy, however, for all do not come down at once, but many hang on the tree for months, and a few go with every strong wind, thus getting themselves scattered in every direction. Their power of germination is low, and only about forty per cent of seeds are fertile. This is due to the fact that pistillate and staminate flowers do not grow on the same tree, and fertilization is imperfect.

The importance of ash in the industries of the country does not depend on the quantity but the quality of the wood. Although the various species are produced in thirty-nine states, as shown by mill statistics, the total yield is less than 250,000,000 feet a year. That is exceeded by several woods, among them hickory, elm, beech, basswood, chestnut, and even larch.

The wood of ash which has grown rapidly is generally considered superior to that of slow growth. The reason is found in the fact that trees of slow growth do most of their growing early in the season, and the wood is porous; but trees of rapid growth lay summerwood on abundantly, and it is dense. Few species show a sharper line between spring and summerwood than ash, for which reason the annual rings are clear-cut and distinct. What figure ash has is produced by the growth rings, and not by medullary rays. Quarter-sawing brings out no additional beauty. Slight crooks in many logs produce a moderate cross grain in lumber, which gives to finished ash its characteristic figure or grain. When straight-grained wood is wanted, as when it is for tool handles and oars, logs without crooks are selected.

The wood of white ash is heavy, hard, strong, elastic, but rather brittle. It lacks the toughness of hickory. The medullary rays are numerous, but small and obscure. The color is brown, the sapwood much lighter, often nearly white. It is not durable in contact with the soil. Notwithstanding its name, the wood rates low in ash, and its fuel value is under that of white oak. The states which produce the largest yearly cut of this species are, ranging downward in the order named: Arkansas, Ohio, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, and Tennessee.

The uses of white ash are so numerous that they can be presented only in classes. It goes into almost every wood-using industry, but in different sections of country certain uses lead. Thus in Illinois the makers of butter tubs take more of it than any other industry; in Michigan automobiles lead, and in Arkansas the handle factories are largest buyers; in Louisiana boat oars consume most; in Alabama and Missouri car construction is in the lead; in Texas boxes and crates; in North Carolina wagons; in Kentucky handles; in Maryland musical instruments; and in Massachusetts furniture. The utilization of ash in these states, scattered over the eastern half of the United States, indicates fairly well the wood’s most important lines of usefulness. A considerable quantity is made into flooring and interior finish. It is classed among sanitary woods, that is, it does not stain or taint food products by contact.

The total quantity of merchantable white ash in the country is not known, but there is still enough to meet demand, and the extent of the tree’s range makes supplies convenient in nearly all manufacturing states. The species grows rather rapidly, and trees a hundred or a hundred and fifty years old yield logs of good size.

Texas Ash (Fraxinus texensis) has been regarded by some as a variety of white ash, while others, including Sudworth and Sargent, consider it a distinct species. It is often called mountain ash where it occurs among the mountains of western Texas. Its range lies wholly in that state, and extends from the vicinity of Dallas to the valley of Devil’s river. The compound leaves are smaller than those of white ash, and are usually composed of five leaflets. 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.

Gregg Ash (Fraxinus greggii) has some peculiarities which make it worthy of mention as one of the minor species. Its range is in the dry mountains of western Texas where a number of ashes seem to have put in an appearance as members of the thinly-peopled vegetable kingdom of that region. The compound leaves of Gregg ash are seldom three inches long, and the leaflets are often half an inch long and less than a quarter of an inch wide. The petioles are winged like the twigs of wing elm. The undersides of the leaves have small black dots. The winged seeds are as proportionately small as the leaves. The flowers have not been described by botanists, for the species is not well known. The largest trees are scarcely twenty-five feet high and eight inches in diameter. More frequently they are shrubs from four to twelve feet tall. The wood is heavy, hard, brown in color and of slow growth.

Dwarf Ash (Fraxinus anomala) might be mistaken for some other species were its telltale winged seeds missing. It has lost the leaflets from its compound leaf, and a single one remains. Occasionally, however, a stem bearing three leaflets is found. The seeds are equipped with wide, oblong wings. It is a desert species, and the desolate surroundings of its habitat explain why nature has dispensed with as much foliage as possible. It is found in southwestern Colorado, in southern Utah, and on the western slopes of the Charleston mountains in southern Nevada. Trees are small and the wood is not of much use for other than fuel, but a few small ranch timbers are made of it where other kinds are scarce. Trunks are usually not more than six or seven inches in diameter. The wood is heavy, hard, and light brown in color.