THE ALDER AND THE HAZEL 



205 



In winter its twigs are never wholly 

 bare. Its multitude ot little groups ot 

 cone-like fruits now gaping open, its even 

 more numerous tightlv closed, clustered 



In spring the old cones are still there. 

 The catkins of the pollen-bearing flowers 

 elongate almost as early as those of the 

 Hazel, and hang jjcndulous. covering the 



THE ALDER IN SUMMER. 



cylinders — the flower catkins that are to 

 be — give to the leafless tree a i^artly clothed 

 a])pearance. And as these young catkins 

 are already richly coloured, reddish brown 

 to crimson, they impart a warm glow to 

 the maze of twigs in the winter sunshine. 



tree, as with living mantle of bronze, some 

 weeks before there is the least sign of the 

 later greener\-. 



In summer its dee]) green foliage, 

 gathered into full masses, affonis strongest 

 contrast to the light fllminess of that of 



