1682 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



The alder is planted to form hedges in moist meadows; and it is planted 

 along the margins of rivers, to keep up the banks by its numerous creeping 

 roots. If the alder be planted in a low meadow, it is said that the surface of 

 the ground surrounding it will become boggy ; whereas, if ash be planted, the 

 roots of which also extend a great way in every direction, and run near the 

 surface, the ground will become firm and dry ; though on what principle these 

 changes take place, we are not informed; and the statement is therefore, most 

 probably, a vulgar error. The chief use of the alder is as coppice-wood, to be cut 

 down every five or six years,and made into charcoal for the gunpowder manufac- 

 turers. The charcoal is considered the next best for that purpose to that of 

 -Rhamnus Frangula, the berry-bearing alder, the aune noir of the French (see 

 p. 537.); and plantations of the common alder are made by the proprietors of the 

 gunpowder manufactories of Hounslow, and other places, in order to make 

 sure of a supply. The larger branches are made into charcoal for the coarser 

 kinds of gunpowder, and the spray for the finer kinds. 



As an ornamental tree, much cannot be said in favour of the alder. Du 

 Hamel remarks that its verdure is agreeable, and its shade dense ; and that 

 its leaves, like those on all plants which grow by water, remain on longer in 

 the autumn than those of deciduous trees which prefer dry situations. In shel- 

 tered places, young alder trees frequently retain their leaves till January. 

 Du Hamel observes that, as cattle will never touch the leaves of the alder as 

 long as they can get anything else to eat, it is a good tree for parks, and 

 also for hedges ; and he adds that it will form very good avenues in situations 

 exposed to cattle. As an object for the landscape-painter, the leaves of the 

 alder do not fall into fine masses ; and they appear too uniformly distributed 

 over the entire head of the tree. Nevertheless, as Gilpin observes, it is a 

 more picturesque tree than the common willow, both in its ramification, and 

 in its foliage : perhaps, indeed, he says, it is 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 quiet and sluggish stream ; but 

 what beauty it has, it owes greatly to the alder, which every where fringes its 

 meadows, and, in many places, forms very pleasing scenes, especially in the vale 

 between Box Hill and the high grounds of Norbury Park. Some of the 

 largest alders we have in England grow in the Bishop of Durham's park, at 

 Bishop- Auckland. The generality of trees acquire picturesque beauty by age : 

 but it is not often that they are suffered to attain this picturesque period. 

 Some- use is commonly found for them long before that time. The oak falls 

 for the greater purposes of man ; and the alder is ready to supply a variety of 

 his smaller wants. An old tree, therefore, of any kind, is a curiosity ; and even 

 an alder, such as those at Bishop- Auckland, when dignified by age, makes a 

 respectable figure." (Gilp. For. Seen., i. p. 69.) Sir Thomas Dick Lauder 

 fully agrees with Mr. Gilpin in his commendation of the alder. It is always 

 associated in our minds, he says, " with river scenery, both of that tranquil 

 description most frequently to be met with in the vales of England, and with 

 that of a wilder and more stirring cast, which is to be found among the glens 

 and deep ravines of Scotland. In very many instances, we have seen it put 

 on so much of the bold resolute character of the oak, that it might have been 

 mistaken for that tree, but for the intense depth of its green hue. The Mole 

 may, doubtless, furnish the traveller with very beautiful specimens of the alder, 

 as it may also furnish an example of that species of quiet English scenery we 

 have alluded to ; but we venture to assert, that no where will the tree be 

 found in greater perfection than on the wild banks of the river Findhorn, and 

 its tributary streams, where scenery of the most romantic description every 

 where occurs." (Laud. Gilp,, i. p. 136.) The alder, Boutcher characterises 

 as " an ugly melancholy tree ;" and, as it is more frequently found by stag- 

 nant than by running water, an observation as old as the time of Virgil, we 

 are strongly inclined, though we do not think it ugly, to consider it as one of 



