_Fraxinus excelsior_] _A large tree, with a lofty, spreading head and short, thick trunk. The bark is ash-colored when old, and dark gray when young. Very black buds distinguish it from the American species. Opposite leaf-scars._ The European ash is planted frequently along roadsides and in our parks and gardens. It is indigenous to Northern, Central, and Southern Europe. Its jet black buds distinguish it from other ash trees. In the chapter called “A Visit to an old Bachelor,” in Mrs. Gaskell’s “Cranford,” Mary Smith tells us how she was talking to Mr. Holbrook in the fields, and how he quoted poetry to himself and enjoyed the trees and clouds and glimpses of distant pastures, and how he suddenly turned sharp round and asked, “Now, what color are ash buds in March?” “Is the man going mad? thought I. He is very like Don Quixote. ‘What color are they, I say?’ repeated he vehemently. ‘I am sure I don’t know, sir,’ said I, with the meekness of ignorance. ‘I knew you didn’t. No more did I—an old fool that I am!—till this young man comes and tells me. Black as ash buds in March. And I’ve lived all my life in the country; more shame for me not to know. Black: they are jet black, madam.” The “young man” he refers to is Tennyson, and the quotation, “Black as ash buds in the front of March,” is a simile used in “The Gardener’s Daughter,” and it shows how acute Tennyson’s powers of observation were, and how true his descriptions of nature. The buds of the ash open later in the spring than those of other trees, and the leaves unfold very slowly. Tennyson also noted this characteristic:— “Why lingereth she to clothe her heart with love, Delaying as the tender ash delays To clothe herself, when all the woods are green?” The rare fitness of this simile might pass unheeded if we did not study trees first and poetry afterwards. In Europe ash seeds were used for medicine. They were called _lingua avis_ by the old apothecaries, on account of a fancied resemblance to the tongues of birds; young ash seeds were also pickled and used in salads. Evelyn says the wood “is of all others the sweetest of our forest fuelling, and the fittest for ladies’ chambers.” The horsechestnuts, the maples, and the ashes are the three genera of large trees which have opposite leaf-scars. CHAPTER V THE WALNUTS AND HICKORIES [Illustration: 1. Butternut. 2. Black Walnut. 3. Pignut Hickory. 4. Mockernut Hickory. 5. Shagbark Hickory. 6. Bitternut Hickory. ] Chapter V THE WALNUTS AND HICKORIES Family Juglandaceæ Few trees are more lofty and majestic than certain species of walnuts and hickories. They are stately in summer, but in winter, when the foliage has gone and every branch and twig is thrown in black relief against the sky, their beauty is truly imposing. Both walnuts and hickories are valuable timber trees, and the nuts of several species are sweet and edible.