188 VOICES FROM THE WOODLANDS. 



roads. In short, I flourish everywhere, except in chalk 

 soils ; and although my wood is soft and brittle when first 

 cut, not even may the oak or elm vie with me in durability ; 

 and various as the places of my growth, so are the uses to 

 which I am applied. At one time my timber is in request 

 for shoe-heels, for ploughmen's clogs, and mill-wheels ; at 

 another, as piles in swamps or under water, an appropriation 

 frequent among the ancients, and commended by Yitruvius, 

 who mentions that the wood of the alder becomes jet black, 

 and nearly as hard as iron. The Eialto is thus founded ; 

 and many of the vast dykes in Holland are strengthened 

 and upheld in a similar manner. Theophrastus notices 

 the use of my bark in dyeing skins, and the moderns have 

 availed themselves of its facility for yielding black, or brown, 

 or red, by the aid of copperas. 



Yast forests of my kindred anciently overspread a wide 

 extent of country ; and, from their imperishable quality, few 

 trees are more frequently discovered beneath the surface of 

 the earth. Take, for example, the level of Hatfield Chace, in 



