THE SOFTWOODS 175 



the most faithful lover of wattery and boggy 

 places, and those most despis'd weeping parts, 

 or water-falls of Forests.'' Moisture is indeed 

 a necessity for it, as it can make no great fight 

 against drought ; and it thrives on land that is 

 even too wet for willows and poplars. But, 

 whenever the land becomes too dry for good 

 growth of alder, a more profitable kind of crop 

 can easily be raised. On the waste, swampy 

 lands where alder is now mostly to be found, 

 self-produced and often little cared for, want 

 of management allows it to spread greatly and 

 run much into branches ; whereas, if it were 

 kept in something like close canopy, it could 

 easily be made to attain a height of about 

 fifty to sixty feet, with a proportionate girth 

 on favourable soil. 



The wood and the bark of the alder are in less 

 repute to-day than they once were. Like elm 

 timber it is durable for use underground, or, if 

 kept dry, in places where there is no frequent 

 alternation from damp to dry atmosphere, the 

 conditions favouring attacks of destructive fungi. 

 All the softwoods, in fact, are much more dur- 

 able when thus preserved against damp, and this 



