The Alders. 231 



occurs in the eastern cartons of the Sierra Nevada, at an elevation 

 of 4,500 to 10,000 feet above tide, where it is said to be common. 

 It is found northward in Washington Territory and in British 

 America, and among the Rocky Mountains to New Mexico. AVell- 

 grown trees are found in the northern part of the Frazer busin, and 

 in the Pearl river country, in British Columbia. 



THE ALDER (Genus Alnus). 



915. Of these thee are about fifteen species, found in middle 

 and northern Europe, North America, and upon the Andes in South 

 America. About half the number occur in North America. 



916. The European alder most commonly cultivated is the A. 

 glut! now. It is indigenous throughout Europe, and when growing 

 wild, seldom attains more than thirty or forty feet in height; but in 

 Great Britain it has, under cultivation, grown to eighty feet with a 

 trunk three to four feet in diameter. It matures at fifty or sixty 

 years. Its timber, when always submerged, is very durable, but not 

 where exposed to alternations of wet and dry. Its brush is used in 

 filling marshy lands, and its wood as staves for fish barrels, and for 

 lasts, turned goods, cabinet wares, etc. To prevent insects from at- 

 tacking it, the finer pieces are sometimes, in Scotland, immersed for 

 some months in water in a peat bog. If some lime is thrown in, 

 the effect is improved. Such wood has some resemblance to ma- 

 hogany, and is used for tables, etc. Charcoal from this wood is 

 used in making gunpowder, and the bark for tanning. 



917. The alder prefers a rich, damp soil, such as alluvial bottom- 

 lands and the borders of streams. It will, however, grow to a large 

 size on dryer land, and from its rapid growth and great tenacity of 

 life, it is esteemed as a nurse for the more tender kinds in bleak and 

 exposed situations. It is, like the willow, useful for consolidating 

 banks, and to keep it in best condition for this, it is cut as coppice- 

 wood once in eight or ten years. It sprouts readily from the stumps. 

 As a screen for osier fields and the like, it is very valuable. 



918. The alder is propagated with facility from the seed, which 

 should be spread in their cones on a dry floor, and stirred from time 

 to time till they are dry. They may be sown at once, or in March 

 or April following, on rich, moist laud, previously prepared. They 

 should be thinly covered and rolled, and the next spring trans- 

 planted from the seed-beds, and after another year in the nursery, 



