AMERICAN FOREST TREES 591 



Broom handle turners in Washington use 350,000 feet of alder a 

 year. The smooth finish which may be imparted to the wood constitutes 

 its chief value for broom handles. It is well liked for porch columns. 

 When the center is bored out, the wood seldom checks. In that respect 

 it resembles yellow poplar. It takes paint well and holds it a long time. 

 Comparatively large amounts are converted into interior finish. It is 

 made into spindles, newel posts, railing, panels, molding, ornaments, 

 and pedestals. Occasionally it is finished in the wood's natural color. 



Many minor places are found for red alder. Frames of pack 

 saddles are made of it; it forms parts of pulleys; is available for small 

 turnery ; and it is sometimes worked into bodies and compartments for 

 business wagons, such as butchers and bakers use. The bark is rich in 

 tannin and is said to be employed in local tanneries, but no statistics are 

 available showing the annual supply. 



WHITE ALDER (Alnus rhombifolia) is known simply as alder in the 

 region where it grows. Where this tree and red alder occupy the same 

 range they are commonly supposed to be the same. The range of white 

 alder extends from northern Idaho to southern California. It is the 

 common alder of central California where it attains its best develop- 

 ment, and the only alder at low altitudes in southern California. Trees 

 vary in height from thirty to eighty feet, and in diameter from one to 

 three. A common size is fifty feet high and fifteen inches in diameter. 

 Like most alders, it sticks close to water courses, and is usually found in 

 the bottoms of gulches where water flows most of the year. The 

 flowers begin to appear in midsummer as dark, olive-brown catkins less 

 than an inch in length. By midwinter they are fully developed, and the 

 tree is loaded with catkins from four to six inches long and thick as lead 

 pencils. In the gulches among the elevated foothills it is not unusual 

 for trees to be bending beneath snow and flowers at the same time. 

 That is about the period when the seeds of the preceding year complete 

 their dispersal. The cones hang closed nearly a whole twelve months, 

 and when they give up their seeds, they often do it slowly. The seeds 

 are the size of pin heads, and seem to have had wings once, but lost 

 them. The remnants remain, but are of no use. If running water does 

 not carry seeds to new grounds they lie beneath the parent tree. The 

 wood of white alder is five pounds lighter per cubic foot than red alder. 

 Its structure is less satisfactory. Medullary rays are irregular, some 

 being thin as those of sweet birch, while others are as broad as rays of 

 chestnut oak. Those of large size seem to be scattered at haphazard, 

 and are so irregular and uncertain that no dependence can be placed in 

 them for figure. Trees are largely sapwood, which is nearly white 

 when freshly cut, but it quickly turns brown; heartwood is pale, yellow- 



