description of the ashes in the swamp that he 
     
     traveled through in Lot 13 as ”large”. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Habitat and community relationships — The two 
     
     ash species differed in their habitat requirements: 
     
     Bain (1890) said that black ash was a tree of 
     
     swamps and Sutherland (1861) even called it 
     
     "swamp ash”506 while Watson (post 1904) 
     
     associated it with ”wet” and "swampy lands”. As 
     
     already noted, it is very likely that the ash of the 
     
     ’ash swamp’ encountered by Robert Gray in his 
     
     trek across Lot 13 in 1793 was black ash, and | 
     
     quote his unusually detailed habitat description in 
     
     full: 
     
    
   
   
    
     I 
     
    
   
   
    
     We came into a Swamp of another kind full of large 
     
     Ash trees and rendered by the underwoods consisting of 
     
     Alders, dogwoodm maple etc. almost impenetrable — 
     
     these growing in a horizontal direction were so 
     
     intermingled that we passed generally on their tops and 
     
     where they happened to be a little thin we sunk 
     
    
   
   
    
     frequently to our middle in mud and water.” 507 
     
    
   
   
    
     Another type of wet ash community is evident 
     
     from Selkirk’s (1803) description of a forest-type 
     
     that consisted of ”red spruce intermixed with ash, 
     
     alder, currants etc.” that ”showed a rich swamp 
     
     capable of being made into excellent meadow”. 
     
     This may be similar to a community in the eastern 
     
     part of Lot 9, in the west of the province, that the 
     
     surveyor Alexander Anderson called ”spruce land”, 
     
     but which contained "spruce and fir and ash”, and 
     
     "when cleared [made] tolerable good farms”5°8. 
     
     And Selkirk’s red spruce/ash swamp, despite the 
     
     difference in the spruce species, seems similar to 
     
     another forest community containing ash, that is 
     
     described by Bain (1890): 
     
    
   
   
    
     The great shale beds of the lower Permian afford heavy 
     
     clay soils. They are often swampy. Originally they 
     
     were covered with a growth of black spruce, larch, ash, 
     
     and willow. In cultivation they are cold and damp, ill- 
     
     suited for tillage, but, under good management, supply 
     
     rich pasturage. 
     
    
   
   
    
     However, Gesner (1846) noted that his ”swamps 
     
     of ash and cedar” in the Egmont Bay area were 
     
     associated with ”light and sandy soils”, and he 
     
     does not mention clay soils. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     506 Perley (1847) says that it was generally known as swamp ash 
     
    
   
   
    
     in New Brunswick, and the name is still widely used for it in 
     
     Canada (eg, Farrar 1995). 
     
    
   
   
    
     5‘” Gray 1793. 
     
    
   
   
    
     508 Land Commission 1875: evidence of Alexander Anderson for 
     
    
   
   
    
     Lot 9. Also before the Commission, H. Braddock of Lot 36 used 
     
     the term “ash swamp" for a forest-type in Lot 36. 
     
    
   
   
    
     214 
     
    
   
   
    
     Whereas black ash was a swamp tree, the records 
     
     indicate that white ash occurred on well-drained 
     
     but fertile sites: while Bain (1890) said only that it 
     
     occurred on dryer ground (compared with the 
     
     black ash), and both Curtis (1775) and Johnstone 
     
     (1822) describe 'ash’, presumably white, as an 
     
     element of the mixed hardwood forests of the 
     
     island, Stewart (1806) said that it grew ”only on 
     
     good land". We have also an emphasis on rich 
     
     soils in Craswell & Anderson's (1856) description 
     
     of the ash wood that was intermingled among 
     
     other vegetation types in Lot 11: ”here and there 
     
     [there is] a narrow swale of superior ash, the soil 
     
     of which is rich and fertilizing", and we have 
     
     Watson's (post 1904) description of it occurring 
     
     on ”rich land beside fresh water courses” at a 
     
     specific site. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Properties and uses — While Hill (1839) said that 
     
     the timber of ash was not valuables”, Stewart 
     
     (1806) said that white ash was ”a valuable tree" — 
     
     though he did not specify any uses for it. 
     
     MacGregor (1828) makes up for this by saying it 
     
     was made into "oars, handspikes, staves, etc.” — 
     
     we have a specific example in Benjamin Chappell’s 
     
     use of ‘ash’ for the oars of a boat he was making 
     
     in 1801”). Finally, Bain (1890) says that the 
     
     wood of the white ash was used for hoop-poles 
     
     and baskets as well as in cabinet work. As for the 
     
     black ash, MacGregor (1828) said it was ”scarcely 
     
     of any value”. In similar vein, Stewart (1806) said 
     
     that it was of ”very little value”, and he noted that 
     
     its chief use was for ”the making of baskets and 
     
     brooms”. More specifically, Sutherland (1861) said 
     
     that it was "prized by the Indians” who used the 
     
     wood in "making baskets etc.". 
     
    
   
   
    
     Conclusion — White and black ash were among the 
     
     less common trees of the island, with the two 
     
     species occurring in very different habitats. The 
     
     black ash was a tree of the richer and wetter 
     
     swamps, while the white ash seems to have 
     
     occurred as a minority component in some of the 
     
     island’s richer hardwood forests. The limited 
     
     records suggest that they were both more 
     
     common in the west of the island. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     509 It may be that he was thinking in terms of the quantity of ash 
     
    
   
   
    
     wood available on the island rather than the quality of the wood 
     
     itself. 
     
    
   
   
    
     5‘” Chappell 1775-1818.