Well, as always Dennis pretty well hit the nail on the head. White Ash is great stuff, but it needs seasoned like any other wood. Granted it starts out better than most but it still needs seasoned. I am Burning some fresh cut white ash in my outside wood burner and it burns great, but that's not the same thing as burning it in your woodstove in the house.
Watching a wet split of redoak dry over time, just by the dark color retreating from the surfaces, I came to the unscientific biased conclusion that 60% of the drying comes from the ends and 40% from the sides. Since the sides of a split offer way more surface than the ends, leaving wood in round form gives the water almost no escape path. Water exit is slowed by bark, too. Bottom line - split it ASAP.
Not many, but I have seen a few White Ash around here with a darker-than-usual heartwood, almost like Hickory.
