CHAP. CIV. _ BETULA CER. A'LNUS. 1681 
a few months, and the furniture afterwards well varnished over with what is 
called the French polish, it will stand unharmed for generations.” (Lauder’s 
Gilpin, vol. i. p. 137.) Wood of alder, which has lain a long time in peat 
bogs, becomes as black as ebony ; and as, in a recent state, it readily receives 
a black dye, while, from the homogeneousness of its texture, it will take a 
better polish than soft woods do generally, it forms a very common substitute 
for that wood in small articles; but it has always a dull hue, being inca- 
pable of receiving the lustre of the real ebony. When used in constructions 
‘above ground, it ought only to be placed in situations where it will be kept 
perfectly dry : but the great use of the wood, on a large scale, is for piles, as 
foundations for bridges and other buildings, water-pipes, barrels of pumps, 
and props for mines. The spray is more durable than that of most other 
trees, when used for filling drains in moist soil. Dorsetshire woodwards 
(woodmen), Mitchell observes, “ have nearly the same adage applied to alder 
poles, when peeled for rafters, as those of the midland counties have for willows 
and poplars (see_p. 1637.) ; viz: — 
“ Thatch me well, and keep me dry, 
Heart of oak I will defy.” 
“ Stakes of alder,”’ he says, “ will not stand twelve months, nor will the timber 
do for posts, or anything else, where it is in contact with the ground, except 
under water. The wood, however,” he adds, “ought not to be entirely re- 
jected;” and he recommends it as linings for stone-carts and wheelbarrows, 
that are in constant use; “because, being soft, though it may bruise, it does 
not split by the stones being tumbled in.” It makes better weather-boards 
than elm or beech, because it does not warp or cast. (Dendrol., p. 55.) Alder 
hop-poles, according to Cobbett, will only last one year. As rel, the alder 
is to the beech as 985 is to 1540: but, like other woods of little value as 
fuel for heating dwelling-houses, it is preferred for other purposes, where a 
slow and not fierce heat is required; such as for heating bakers’ ovens, for 
burning limestone and chalk, for burning bricks, &c. The charcoal ‘is es- 
teemed excellent for making gunpowder ; but for domestic uses it is considered 
inferior, being to that of the beech as 885 is to 1600. The ashes yield at the 
rate of 65lb. of potash to 1000 lb. of ashes; which ranks it among 73 other 
woods that yield this salt, in the 67th degree. The bark on the young wood 
is powerfully astringent, and is employed by tanners: and the young shoots 
are used both for tanning, and dyeing red, brown, and yellow; and, in combi- 
nation with copperas, to dye black. The catkins dye green; and the female 
catkins are used by fishermen to sustain their nets above water, instead of 
cork, In Hall’s Travels in Scotland, the author says that the country people 
in the Highlands make their own shoes; and, to avoid the tax on leather, pri- 
vately tan the hides with the bark of birch and alder. ( Travels in Scotland, vol. ii. 
p- 401.) |The fresh wood dyes a snuff-colour; and the bark, dried and pow- 
dered, and mixed with logwood, bismuth, &c., yields the colour called boue de 
Paris. It is said that the Laplanders masticate the bark, and, with the saliva 
so coloured, stain their leathern garments red. (Sy/. Sketches, p. 9.) In France, 
the small roots are split, and worked into baskets ; and the knotty parts of the 
larger roots are used for inlaying cabinet-work. Both linen and woollen 
cloths are dyed black by boiling them with the flowers, buds, female catkins, 
bark, and spray, and afterwards putting them into water which has been used 
at a smith’s forge for quenching the red-hot iron. The leaves are used in 
medicine as detersive ; and they are employed in decoctions and gargles for 
diseases of the throat. Among the uses which may be considered obsolete, 
are two mentioned by Pennant; viz. spreading the boughs over the fields 
during summer ; leaving them there during the winter to rot; and, in the fol- 
lowing March, clearing off the undecayed parts, and ploughing the ground for 
a crop of corn. The other use is that of strewing the leaves and young shoots 
on the floors of houses to attract fleas, which are said to be entangled in the 
“ tenacious liquor, as birds are by birdlime.”’ 
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