Teachers' Leaflet. 551 



LESSON CXIX. 



THE USE MADE OF THE ALDERS. 



Purpose. — To inform the pupils concerning the chief uses of alders. 



The alders are even greater lovers of water than are the willows ; 

 when planted on the banks of swift streams their strong, interlacing roots 

 prevent the water from " washing," and thus save many acres of land. 

 Alder wood when exposed to changes of wet and dry soon decays ; but 

 strangely enough if kept saturated in water is durable, so it is used for 

 water pipes and for piles ; the ancient cities of Venice and Amsterdam 

 were built on a foundation of alder piles, according to an old authority. 

 Ink and a fast black dye are made of alder bark, and tannin is obtained 

 from both the bark and the fruit. 



The Speckled or Hoary Alder is the most common in New York 

 State, and may be easily distinguished by its wide, speckled, brown 

 branches and by its pointed leaves lined with a hoary bloom, which they 

 lose later in the season. Our native alders are shrubs, rarely attaining 

 more than ten feet in height. However, we have a European species 

 which is a good sized tree. 



References. — "The Tree Book," p. 177. "Our Northern Shrubs," 

 p. 460. " Our Native Trees," p. 460. 



LESSON CXX. 



THE WANDERER. 



Purpose.— To make the pupils interested in this very interesting and 

 beneficial butterfly, which feeds upon the alder blight. 



There is a plant-louse which fastens 

 itself to the twigs of alder, which is pro- 

 tected by a woolly covering; a twig thus 

 infested may be easily seen, for it looks 

 as if it were wrapped in cotton wool. 

 These plant-lice excrete large quantities the wanderer. 



of honey-dew which is much liked by Expanse a little over an inch. 

 the ants. This honey-dew is excreted Color dark brown with large 

 in such large quantities that it black- irregular orange-yellow patch in 



1 , -i. r 11 1 i.1 the central part of the fore wing 



ens whatever it falls upon and there , . ., /, \, , 



'^ and a similar patch on the outer 



grows upon it a fungus. Almost all half of the hmd wing. 

 caterpillars of butterflies feed upon vege- 

 table food, either leaves or blossoms, but there is one notable exception, 

 as the larva of one butterfly feeds upon these plant-lice on the alders ; it 

 works along beneath the woolly excretion destroying the insects in its 



