164 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



serrated in their margins, and dark green in color. The 

 tree rapidly forms an agreeable pyramidal head of foliage, 

 when growing in damp situations. As it is a foreign tree 

 we shall quote from Gilpin its character in scenery. " The 

 alder," says he, " loves a low, moist soil, and frequents the 

 banks of rivers, and will flourish in the poorest forest 

 swamps where nothing else will grow. It is perhaps the 

 most picturesque of any of the aquatic tribe, except the 

 weeping willow. He who would see the alder in perfection 

 must follow the banks of the Mole in Surrey, through the 

 sweet vales of Dorking and Mickleham, into the groves of 

 Esher. The Mole, indeed, is far from being a beautiful 

 river ; it is a silent and sluggish stream, but what beauty 

 it has it owes greatly to the alder, which everywhere fringes 

 its meadows, and in many places forms very pleasing scenes. 

 It is always associated in our minds with river scenery, 

 both of that tranquil description most frequently to be met 

 with in the vales of England, and with that wider and more 

 stirring cast which is to be found amidst the deep glens and 

 ravines of Scotland ; and nowhere is this tree found in 

 greater perfection than on the wild banks of the river Find- 

 horn and its tributary streams, where scenery of the most 

 romantic description everywhere prevails."* 



Although the beauty of the alder is of a secondary kind, 

 it is worth occasional introduction into landscapes where 

 there is much water to be planted round, or low running 

 streams to cover with foliage. In these damp places, like 

 the willow, it grows very well from truncheons or large 

 limbs, stuck in the ground, \vhich take root and become 

 trees speedily. There are two principal varieties, the 



* Lander's Gilpin, i. p. J36. 



