THE BIRCH AND THE ALDER. 157 



some of the American kinds. Then in autumn we 

 have a condition more pleasing yet. At this season, 

 upon most individuals that have reached maturity, 

 may be seen standing side by side, the representatives 

 of three distinct and successive seasons of growth. 

 Many of the black and emptied seed-catkins of the 

 preceding year still cling to the twigs ; abundance 

 of the fat green seed-catkins of the current year, re- 

 sembling clusters of little fir-cones, are within reach; 

 and upon every branch there is promise of the sea- 

 son to come, that is to say, of the following spring, 

 in the shape of rudimentary stamen-catkins. Many 

 trees give notice thus long beforehand of the activity 

 contemplated for the year to follow ; but it is in the 

 alder alone that we have all these seasons, the past, 

 the present, and the future, so beautifully associated. 

 The phenomenon is one of so much the more interest 

 from its reminding us once again how far back lie 

 the beginnings of things ! In April, we say, Behold 

 the spring ! But the alder was on the alert in 

 March, in February, at Christmas ! yea, long back 

 in the old year, while the farewell-summer was in 

 blossom, and the nuts were barely ripe ! It forms a 

 beautiful picture of the incessant recurrence of life 

 upon death; before the aged have departed, the 

 young are rising up to take their place. 



The uses of the alder are not confined to its land- 

 scape effects and its significance. The leaves afford 

 a brown dye, indicated by their rapidly changing to 



