158 THE BIRCH AND THE ALDEE. 



this colour when laid between papers to dry for the 

 herbarium ; and if we are to believe Virgil, it was' 

 of alder wood that mankind constructed the first 

 ships ; at all events the first record of ship-build- 

 ing after the time of Noah's ark, is that well-known 



line 



Tune alnos primum fluvii sensere cavatas. 



The alder is mentioned also by Homer, under the 

 name of clethra (now applied to the fragrant flower- 

 ing-shrub mentioned above), but apparently not 

 elsewhere. The wood has the valuable property of 

 resisting the action of water, whence it is of great 

 commercial value for the construction of piles for 

 bridges, etc., as in the celebrated arch of the Rialto 

 at Venice, which is said to owe its stability to the 

 use of this alone. In France, great numbers of the 

 wooden shoes, there called " sabots," are also manu- 

 factured from the wood of the alder. In stature 

 this tree rises to the height of fifty or sixty feet ; in 

 profile, when well grown, it is broad-headed and 

 somewhat oak-like. 



