DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES. 
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situations. As it is a foreign tree, we shall quote from Gilpin 
its character in scenery. u The alder,” says he, a loves a 
low, moist soil, and frequents the banks of rivers, and will 
flourish in the poorest forest swamps, where nothing else 
will grow. It is perhaps the most picturesque of any of the 
aquatic tribe, except the weeping willow. He who would see 
the alder in perfection, must follow the banks of the Mole 
in survey, through the sweet vales of Dorking and Mickle- 
ham, into the groves of Esher. The Mole, indeed, is far from 
being a beautiful river ; it is a silent and sluggish stream, but 
what beauty it has, it owes greatly to the alder, which every- 
where fringes its meadows, and in many places forms very 
pleasing scenes. It is always associated in our minds with 
river scenery, both of that tranquil description most frequently 
to be met with in the vales of England, and with that wider 
and more stirring cast which is to be found amidst the deep 
glens and ravines of Scotland ; and nowhere is this tree found 
in greater perfection than on the wild banks of the river Find- 
horn, and its tributary streams, where scenery of the most 
romantic description everywhere prevails.”* 
Although the beauty of the alder is of a secondary kind, 
it is worth occasional introduction into landscapes where 
there is much water to be planted round, or low running 
streams to cover with foliage. In these damp places, like 
the willow, it grows very well from truncheons or large limbs, 
stuck in the ground, which take root and become trees 
speedily. There are two principal varieties, the common 
alder, [A. glutinosa ,) and the cut-leaved alder, (A. glutinosa 
laciniata.) The latter is much the handsomer tree, and is 
also the rarest in our nurseries. 
* Lauder’s Gilpin, 1. p. 136, 
