The ash tree, we are told, by Dr Nelson and others, held a higher place in the estimation than did the oak, in distant times. Ash trees marked sites of special veneration. For example, a giant ash stood beside St Brigid's Cathedral in Kildare. And Dr Nelson tells us that Dr A. T. Lucas related how an ancient ash beside a sacred well in an old ruined church fell in 1945, yet Lucas noted that, as it lay there, it was still the centre of the local pattern, and pilgrims continued to stick pennies into a crack in the trunk.
But a pamphlet to hand An Fhuinseog - ash for hurleys for profit - is concerned with practical matters of today. Published by Trees for Ireland in 1996, it was edited by Dr Jack Durand. It is not without its poetry, but is basically a practical and simple guide. The caman is provided by the butt length of the tree, where the growth reaches down into the strong buttress roots. The felling of the tree to include part of the root is a skilled job and, says the pamphlet, is usually arranged by the hurley maker. A small illustration shows the butt end with the curve of the roots - just a couple of inches, it seems; the good butt will give twelve or more hurleys.
Usually the tree will be 25 to 30 years old. Then, of course, other parts of the tree are valuable: "for veneer, bentwood, solid furniture, turnery, tool handles of all sorts, for ladders and, billiard cues." And, of course, it's a splendid firewood. A man who planted several hundred ash "for when the oil supply of the world dries up or is cut off", says it is even better burning after two years, though some burn it almost on cutting.
Then the pamphlet gets down to the planting and maintenance, all the practicalities, if you are making an investment. Advice, with details of grants available, should be looked for several months before planting. Grants for planting, says the pamphlet, "are generous and much of the grant is paid immediately on satisfactory completion of the planting." Forest Service, Leeson Lane, Dublin 2, should get them.