944 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



so that where milldams, weirs, or similar work is being done on an estate, it may be 

 profitable to use it in preference to more costly wood. 



It is useless for posts or fencing, as it decays quickly when exposed to wet and 

 dry conditions. It makes very good panelling, and is strong enough for inside work 

 such as window-sills, and may be used for cheap furniture, but is said to be subject 

 to the attacks of wood-boring beetles, unless previously steeped for some time in 

 lime water. The colour is a pale reddish brown ; and the large burrs which are 

 commonly found on old trees show a very pretty figure when cut in slices, but 

 are usually too small and full of flaws to have any marketable value, though Sir 

 Thomas Dick Lauder says that handsome tables can be made of them. 1 Loudon 

 quotes Mitchell to the effect that in Dorsetshire the local saying used for willow and 

 poplar in the midland counties, is applied to alder poles when peeled, viz. 



Thatch me well and keep me dry 

 Heart of oak I will defy ; 



but, according to Cobbett, the bark must be taken off with a draw knife as soon as 

 possible after the poles are cut, and even then they will only last a year or two as 

 hop poles. 



Alder wood which is dug up from peat bogs is said to become as black as 

 ebony, but I have seen none large or sound enough to be used like bog oak. As 

 fuel the wood is little valued in England, though Mouillefert says that in France it is 

 considered specially suitable for heating ovens and glass works, though considerably 

 inferior in heating power to beechwood. The charcoal made from it was at one time 

 in great demand for making gunpowder, but, so far as I can learn, is now little used 

 for that purpose. The wood is said to be used on the continent for making cigar 

 boxes ; this may be the case for very cheap cigars, but all the cigar boxes I have 

 seen appear to be made of the wood of the West Indian "cedar," Cedrela odorata. 

 The bark was used for tanning in the north, but only contains about 16 per cent 

 of tannin, and Mouillefert says that in France a black dye used for felt is made 

 from the bark and sulphate of iron. 



Another use for alder wood which seems to be little known is the making of 

 hat-blocks, an industry carried on in Dunstable, Luton, and other towns near the 

 principal hat factories. For this purpose the larger sized trees are preferred, cut into 

 plank of not less than 10 inches wide and 3 inches in thickness. I am informed 

 that in consequence of the increasing difficulty in procuring this wood in England, 

 it is now imported from the continent, and as much as is. 3d. a foot is paid at the 

 ports on the north-east coast. 



The following details of the cost of making clog soles from alder were taken on 

 my own estate in 1908 : 



About 100 trees, estimated at 56 years old, growing on the bank of a stream 

 at Colesborne, on an area of about one-third of an acre, were sold at yd. and 8d. a 



1 Alder burrs seem to have been a favourite wood with cabinet-makers in Sweden in former times, as I saw several 

 handsome cabinets veneered with this wood in the Northern Museum at Stockholm. 



