1680

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

Africa.' According to Pursh, the common alder is also a native of NorthAmerica; in the interior of Canada , and on the north-west coast'. The alderwas known to Homer and Theophrastus . (See p. 18.) According to Virgil,it formed the first material for boats; and Lucan recommends it as a woodproper for ship-building. Virgil describes the proper situation for it, as onthe margin of still waters; and Vitruvius recommends the wood for piles,stating that the city of Ravenna was built on it. Aristotle mentions thatthe alder was generally barren in Greece , and only fertile in the island ofCrete ; but it may be doubted whether he alludes to the same tree. In thetime of Theophrastus , the bark was used for dyeing leather; and, in the daysof Pliny , the wood was employed for piles, which he calls “ eternal; ” and forpipes, for conveying water under ground, as it is at present. The sameauthor states that the tree was planted along the banks of rivers, to preventthem, by its numerous roots and suckers, from being washed away duringextraordinary floods. Evelyn tells us that the celebrated bridge of the Rialto,at Venice , was built on piles of this tree. It is still extensively used inFlanders and Holland, for the purpose of forming piles. Boutcher, writingin 1780, informs us that, between 1730 and 1750, “vast quantities of alderplants were brought from Holland to Scotland , at a considerable price, andunhappily for the owners, planted in large tracts of moist land, from whichno returns suitable to the labour and expense had been received.” He addsthat he would greatly have preferred “ poplars and abeles.” (Treatise , &c.,p. III.)

Properties and Uses. Naturally, the leaves of the alder afford food to thelarvae of different species of moths, and other insects; and the leaves andyoung shoots are eaten by horses, cows, goats, and sheep, though they arenot fond of them; and they are refused by swine. Among the lepidopte-rous insects may be mentioned several species of the genus HipparchiaFab. Saturnia Schrank. (See Magazine of Natural History, vol. viii.p. 210., and vol. v. p. 251.) Clytus alni Fab., a coleopterous ^insect, is common in the tranks of old alder trees. C. .drietis "*

Fab., Cerambyx Arletis L., Sam. pi. 2. f. 25., and oury%. 1541.,is also common. The tongues of horses feeding upon the alder,

Linnaeus observes, are turned black; and, on that account, itis supposed by some persons to be unwholesome for them.

The uses to which the aider has been applied by man arevarious. ' The wood, though soft, is of great durability inwater. It weighs, when green, 62 lb. 6 oz.; half-dry, 48 lb.

8 oz.; and quite dry, 39 lb. 4 oz., per cubic foot; thus losingabove a third of its weight by drying, while it shrinks about a twelfth partof its bulk. In the Dictkmnaire des Faux et Forets, the wood is said tobe unchangeable either in water or earth. It is used for all the various pur-poses to which soft homogeneous woods are generally applied; viz. for turnery,sculpture, and cabinet-making; for wooden vessels, such as basins, plates,and kneading-troughs; for sabots, wooden soles to shoes and pattens, clogs torwomen, and similar purposes. In France , sabots made of alder wood aresmoked, to render them hard and impervious to the larva of the beetle whicattacks that wood. The French , and also the Highlanders, are said to naKelight chairs of the wood of this tree, which have the colour, though they havenot the grain, of mahogany. Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, speaking of the woo ,says, “ It is extremely valuable, even when of a small size, for cutting U Pinto herring-barrel staves; and thus whole banks, in Scotland , have he ^denuded every year ,of this species of timber. The old trees, which areof knots, cut up into planks, have all the beauty of the curled maple, withadvantage of presenting a deep, rich, reddish tint; and, in this state, they mmost beautiful tables. It must be remembered, however, that the alderber is liable to be perforated by a small beetle; it should, therefore, if po s ®be prepared by immersing the logs in a large hole dug in a peat moss, an ^pregnating the water of the hole with a quantity of lime. If this be do