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COMMON EUROPEAN ALDER. 
Alnüs glutinosa. A. foliis subrotundo-cuneatis, obtusis, subretusis, glutinosis ; 
axillis venarum subtùs villosis. 
The Common European Alder bears so great a resemblance to the Com- 
mon American Alder, in its flowers, its seeds, its leaves, its wood and its 
bark, as to render a separate figure unnecessary : the only difference observ- 
able between them is that the European species is larger and has smaller 
leaves. 
The Common European Alder is a fine tree of more than 50 feet in 
height: its trunk is generally straight, tapering gradually from the base 
to the summit, and garnished with numerous branches, tending rather 
to close round the stock, than to diffuse themselves widely ; hence the 
Alder, like the Lombardy Poplar, grows in great numbers in a small space, 
without impediment from the proximity of the stocks. 
The wood of this tree is fine-grained, compact, susceptible of a fine 
■ polish, and not destitute of strength. When perfectly dry, it is light and 
easily wrought ; hence it is in request with manufacturers of wooden ware. 
In France immense quantities of wooden shoes are made of it, which are 
seasoned by fire before they are sold. The Alder takes a better black than 
any other wood, and when polished and varnished it affords a good imita- 
tion of Ebony. With sulphate of iron, the bark forms a black dye for 
coloring wool, and, as it is procured at a very low price, it is extensively 
substituted for gall nuts by hatters and dyers. The wood of the Alder, 
when deeply buried in earth that is constantly humid, is found to endure a 
great length of time; it is therefore used for the pipes of conduits. In 
Flanders and Holland, it serves for the piles upon which buildings are 
erected in marshy places. 
In France, England and Germany, the Alder is considered as a valuable 
tree, on account of its rapid growth in wet grounds. It is frequently ob- 
served on the sides of streams flowing through meadows, and, as its roots 
penetrate to a great distance, it contributes more effectually than most other 
trees to support the banks at the season of the overflowing of the waters. 
The European Alder shoots with such vigor, that copses formed of it 
may be cut every seven years, and at the end of eighteen years they furnish 
trees exceeding 35 feet in height, whose wood is far superior to that of the 
Lombardy Poplar. It is obtained from the seed, or from cuttings of a pro- 
per length, buried in very moist ground, except a few inches that appear 
