78 THE BIRCH AXD THE ALDER. 



with us, or we with it. The "curious" things in nature are not, as 

 some weakly imagine, the casualties, the anomalies, or the extremes, 

 but those dear old ways which God has daily manifested ever since 

 the morning-stars sang together, and which constitute a large portion 

 of the alphabet through which, by reverent watching, we may gather 

 insights into the Divine order and munificence. To the earnest seeker 

 after truth, a cowslip is more precious than a twin-apple or a triple 

 hazel-nut, strange vagaries as they are ; the " common things" of the 

 world will for ever keep the firmest hold upon human interest and 

 human affections, just as domestic love, new and fragrant every 

 morning, is better, and better esteemed, than the largess of a prince. 



The character by which the birch and alder are brought together, 

 is found in the fruit. While they correspond with the rest of the 

 amentiferous class of forest-trees in producing their male flowers in 

 catkins, they differ from all (except the feathery-seeded willows and 

 poplars) and agree between themselves, in having the female flowers 

 developed in catkins likewise. Generically, the alders are distinguished 

 by their hard and woody fruit-catkins, the scales of which are per- 

 sistent ; while in the birches the scales fall asunder, crumbling, when 

 ripe, beneath the pressure of the fingers, and liberating myriads of 

 little flat and seed-like fruits, every one of which is provided with 

 lateral wings. The fruits of the alders, on the other hand, are wing- 

 less. Besides this, in the alders many female catkins stand side by 

 side, or at all events near together, the peduncle being branched ; 

 while in the birches, the female catkins are always solitary. Altogether, 

 there are of these interesting trees some sixty or seventy species. They 

 grow in the woods and upon the mountains of Europe, northern Asia, 

 and the Himalayahs, extending to Peru and Columbia, and even 

 into the antarctic regions, where, however, as in the extreme north, 

 they become reduced to the condition of diminutive shrubs. Three 

 species are indigenous to Great Britain, the common or silver Birch, 

 the dwarf birch, and the common Alder. The first and last, like most 

 of the race, are esteemed for their pictorial effect in landscape ; the 

 dwarf birch is interesting on account of its littleness, the leaves being 

 no larger than silver pennies.* Alders prefer wet soil, whence they 

 are frequent adjuncts of the stream and river- side ; birches prefer 

 ground that is dry, and hence become a great embellishment of declivi- 

 ties and hill-sides, as well known to all who have stood face to face 



* Under special circumstances, the dwarf birch will reach the height of twenty 

 feet, but it never becomes a tree in substance. 



