176 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 
circumstance gave rise to such rural adages as 
that about alder in Dorset-— 
‘Thatch me well and keep me dry, 
Heart of oak I will defy.’ 
In the midland counties the same idea is ex- 
pressed in very similar words as regards poplar 
and willow. 
Alder wood is largely used for making herring 
barrels and as charcoal for gunpowder; while 
on the Continent it is much used for cigar boxes. 
Its superiority for gunpowder has long been 
known, at any rate since before the days of 
Evelyn: ‘The poles of Ader are as useful as 
those of Willows; but their coals far exceed 
them, especially for Gun-powder.’ 
Before that, however, it had also other minor 
uses, for Holinshed speaks of ‘the alder, whose 
barke is not unprofitable to die blacke withall, 
and therefore much used by our countrie wives 
in colouring their knit hosen.’ In localities 
where the wood can be disposed of profitably to 
a powder factory, or for clog-making or other pur- 
poses, alder coppice can prove very remunerative. 
But the better classes of land, which would yield 
