A DISCOURSE

240

CHAP. XIX.

The ALDER*.

l. .AlNUS, the ALDER, is of all other the most faithful lover ofwatery and boggy places, and those most despised weeping parts, orwater-galls of forests;— crcifsisque palucUbus Alni ; for, in better and drierground they attract the moisture from it, and injure it. They are propa-

h According to the system of the celebrated Linnaeus, this tree is clafsed with the Birch ,under the title of BETULA (alnus) pedunculis ramosis. The common alder.

This tree belongs to the clafs and order Monoecia Tetrandria, there being male and femaleflowers separately on the same plant, the male having four stamina. The catkins are formedabout the sixteenth of September, and the flowers are in full blow about the twenty-sixthof March. The leaves begin to open, about the seventh of April.

The alder is generally planted for coppice-wood, to be cut down every ninth or tenthyear for poles. These coppices are raised either from truncheons or young trees, thelatter of which is greatly preferable. In order to obtain a quantity of-trees for thispurpose, some suckers should be taken out of the meadows where the Alder-trees grow.These should be planted on a prepared piece of ground, and afterwards headed down forstools. By the succeeding autumn they will have shot out many young branches, whichmay be laid in the ground; and by that time twelvemonth they will have taken root,when they should be removed from the stools, and planted in rows, to acquire a sufficientheight to be above the weeds,- when planted in the places where they are to remain.In one or two years they will be strong enough to be planted out for good. If the coppiceis to stand upon boggy or watery ground, they may be removed from the nursery, andplanted three feet asunder, the holes having been previously prepared to receive them.Here they may stand for six or seven years; when every other tree should be taken away,and the rest cut down for stools. The stools will then be six feet asunder; and as eachstool will throw out many young branches for poles, they ought not to stand at a nearerdistance. Every ninth or tenth year will afford a fall of these trees for poles; andin performing this operation, they should be taken off smooth and fine, so that the stoolmay not be damaged, or hindered from producing a fresh crop.

The other Id’s eligible method, though perhaps least expensive, is performed by plantingtruncheons three feet long. Two of the feet must be thrust into the ground, having firstwidened a hole with a crow, or some such instrument, to preferve the bark from beingrubbed off in planting. These should be set at the distance of one yard. But, at the timeof the first fall, the planter must not expect to remove every other tree, for many of thetruncheons will not grow; neither have I ever seen a coppice, raised in this way,'so luxuriant and beautiful as when raised from regular plants.