The Alders and the Hornbeams. 233 



they may be finally transplanted. The alder is rated as a soft wood, 

 and sold at a low price. For general cultivation it is not profitable, 

 but for special uses it has great advantages. 



919. THE AMERICAN ALDER (Alnus incana), the most widely dis- 

 tributed of our native species, occurs from New England northward 

 far into British America, and westward to Oregon. It is found in 

 New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah, and in the Sierra Nevada mount- 

 ains to an elevation of 6,000 to 7,000 feet. It most commonly oc- 

 curs in dense thickets along the border of streams, seldom growing 

 to a size for any use but firewood. 



920. THE RED ALDER (A. rubrci) occurs along the Pacific from 

 Alaska southward, sometimes growing 30 to 40 feet high. It grows 

 to a small tree on Vancouver and Queen Charlotte Islands and the 

 coast of the mainland, and its wood is sometimes used for charcoal. 



921. THE WHITE ALDER (A. rhombifdia) occurs from Oregon to 

 Southern California as a tree 20 to 50 feet high and 2 to 3 feet in 

 diameter. It has a light, ash-gray bark, slender branches. 



922. The Alnus oblong if olia occurs in Southern California and New 

 Mexico as a tree 20 to 30 feet in height. 



923. THE OREGON ALDER (A. Oregona) is a tree growing to 50 

 or GO feet in height, and sometimes two feet in diameter, near the 

 ground. Like the other alders, it prefers the banks of streams. 

 The wood is brittle, and not employed for useful purposes. 



HORXBEA:I (Genus Carpinus). 



924. Of the genus Carpinus, about nine species are found in the 

 North Temperate Zone of the Old and New World, and but one (0. 

 Americana) is found native in the United States. It is known by va- 

 rious common names, such as the " hop-hornbeam," from the clusters 

 of fruit somewhat resembling hops, " blue-beech," " water or swamp 

 beech," etc. It has the general habit of the beech, and its bark is 

 smooth like that tree. The stem is generally somewhat fluted or 

 angular, and it is of smaller size. The foliage becomes crimson, 

 scarlet, and orange in autumn. 



925. The hornbeam occurs widely distributed throughout the At- 

 lantic States and Canada; never in dense groves, but scattered 

 through forests of other deciduous kinds. The wood is close, white, 

 hard, and fine-grained, remarkably tough and strong, and well 

 adapted to places where it is required to resist great pressure or fric- 

 tion. When of sufficient size, the wood is useful in the mechanic 



