The Alder. 



stroke ; for, if the cut be downwards^ it leaves a raggedness 

 upon the steni^ which lets in the water to a certain extent, 

 and produces rottenness and weakness. 



100. The poles being cut do\vn, should, as soon as possible, 

 be not only trimmed up by taking off the brushwood or spray 

 from them, but they should, with as little delay as possible, 

 havetheirbark taken off. This is done in the following manner: 

 you take two stakes, and drive them into the ground in 

 a sloping position, so that they cross each other at a point 

 distant from the ground about the height of a man's 

 breast. Then fix two other stakes in like manner, at about 

 ten or twelve feet distance ; you then lay the pole upon 

 these two crossings of the stakes, and with what is called a 

 draw-shave, you take off the main part of the bark. This 

 operation is always performed upon poles of this kind before 

 they are put up in the hop-gardens ; and, except by very 

 slovenly people, before they are applied to any use, whether 

 within doors or without. 



101. If it be desirable to have a large piece of Alder for 

 any purpose, the tree should certainly be raised from the seed ; 

 but there are so many other trees to produce boards and 

 other w^ood for temporary uses, that the Alder can scarcely 

 ever be w^anted, except for poles and for the other uses 

 above mentioned. The wood is light, and it admits of a 

 polish not much amiss, but it is brittle almost beyond any 

 thing, and it cannot be safely trusted for more than one 

 year for a hop-pole. This circumstance renders it greatly 

 inferior to the Ash, and even to the Willow; but then it 

 will thrive where the Ash will not grow at all ; and, in the 

 same situation, it will make a pole of double the size that 

 the Willow will make in the same space of time. As 

 fuel, it is beyond all measure inferior to the Ash and to 



