SMALL TREES, SHRUBS, AND COPPICE. 57 



a considerable tree, but in dry places and on moun- 

 tain slopes it is but a dwarf shrub. Virgil says that 

 the first boats were built of its wood; and Pliny 

 calls the wood " eternal" for water-pipes and piles 

 for buildings. Evelyn states that the bridge of the 



THE ALDER. 



Rialto, in Venice, is built on piles of alder wood ;, 

 and Vitruvius, that the city of Ravenna was erected 

 on alder piles. The Dorset woodmen have a similar 



