THE ALDER. 



221 



gular, but afterwards become round. The bark in old 

 trees is full of clefts and of a dark colour, and the leaves, 

 before they expand, are 

 beautifully folded longi- 

 tudinally, between the 

 two whitish green sti- 

 pules which enclose them. 

 The male catkins appear 

 in the autumn, but they 

 do not flower till the fol- 

 lowing spring, when the 

 female catkins, in the 

 form of small conical 

 cones, are produced on 

 branched footstalks near 

 to them. 



The Alder is best propagated from seeds, which always 

 produce more vigorous plants than cuttings or truncheons, 

 as recommended by Evelyn, Boutcher, and others ; these 

 no doubt may succeed pretty well when made of shoots 

 of one or two years 1 growth, but when older and of a 

 large size they are apt to fail. The seed should be 

 gathered in autumn, as soon as the scales of the catkins 

 begin to open, which indicates their maturity, and may 

 be separated from them by spreading them upon a sheet 

 in a dry room and frequently turning them over ; 

 some sow the seed in autumn, but as the young plants 

 are apt to be thrown out by the frosts in early spring, 

 this had better be deferred till the month of March ; the 

 seed beds should be composed of fine earth, and the 

 covering very light, not exceeding a quarter of an inch 

 in thickness. In five or six weeks the young plants 

 appear, and by the end of the summer they will have 



