108 
dye, and a basis for black colours. An ounce of 
the pulverized bark, with an ounce of logwood, 
six grains of the solution of copper, six grains of 
the solution of tin, six grains of the solution of 
bismuth, and two drops of the solution of sul- 
phate of iron, boiled in three-fourths of a pint of 
water, dyes a strong deep bowe de Paris, The 
shoots, when cut in March, dye a fine cinnamon 
colour; and, when dried and pulverized, dye a 
handsome drab. The bark is also used by lea- 
ther-tanners, leather-dessers, and the tanners of 
nets. The leaves are refused by swine, but eaten 
by horses, cows, sheep, and goats ; but they blacken 
the tongues of horses, and they are of a very as- 
tringent nature, and probably quite unwholesome 
to be used, in even small quantities, as forage. 
The alder, like most native aquatics, is very 
easily propagated. It may either be raised from 
seed,—though this method is seldom practised 
in Great Britain,—or propagated from trunch- 
eons, suckers, cuttings, or layers, of three, four, 
or five years’ growth. The method by truncheons 
is peculiar, and is noticed as follows by Evelyn, 
and called by him the Jersey manner: “I re- 
| ceived it from a most ingenious gentleman of 
| Jersey: it is, to take truncheons of two or three 
feet long at the beginning of the winter, and to 
bind them in faggots, and place the ends of them 
in water till towards the spring, by which season 
they will have contracted a swelling spire or 
knur about that part, which being set does never 
fail of growing and striking root.” The truncheons 
are suspiciously spoken of by Hanbury and Mar- 
shall, and are shown by Mr. South, in the ‘ Bath 
Papers,’ to be at least in some instances delusive ; 
but they are favourably regarded by other wri- 
ters; and when tried, they ought to be planted 
in ebrensy or Maren, two feet deep in loosened 
soil, and afterwards tent free from weeds. Layers 
seem much the best method for securing success, 
and are certainly far the best for perpetuating 
varieties ; and they ought to be laid in October, 
kept laid till the following October, and then 
planted 18 inches deep, and deprived of their top 
to about nine inches from the ground, — The 
leaves of the alder are subject to the depredations 
of a small beetle, with dark, violet-blue, shining 
wing-cases, and called Chrysomela betule ; and 
they are also liable to be pierced and devoured 
by the caterpillar of a saw-fly which has its de- 
signation from them, and is called Selandria alni. 
The cut-leaved variety of the common alder, 
A. g. lanciniata, is a plant of yncommon beauty, 
especially when young; it grows as rapidly and 
attains as large a size as its type; and it is 
pre-eminently fitted for the purposes of an orna- 
mental tree in moist and low situations. The 
hawthorn-leaved variety, A. g. oxyacanthifolia, is 
of feebler habit than its type; but it combines 
elegance with singularity, has deeply-lobed leaves 
like those of the hawthorn, and possesses remark- 
ably little resemblance to the other varieties of 
the alder. The oak-leaved variety, A. g. querct- 
ALDER. 
=] 
folia, is of smaller growth than its type. Some 
of the other varieties are of quite shrubby habit, 
and cannot be made to assume the form of trees. 
—The species encana or hoary-leaved alder—also 
called Turkey alder and upland alder—is distin- 
guished from the common alder by the greater 
erectness of its attitude, by the hoariness of the 
under side of its leaves, by its freedom from glu- 
tinosity or clamminess, by its greater rapidity of 
growth, and by its capacity of attaining a larger 
size. Yet its varieties, like those of the common. 
alder, are very numerous, and, in several in- 
stances, quite dwarfish. This species, while it is 
believed to possess all the good properties of the 
Alnus glutinosa, has the accommodating and val- 
uable one of perfect adaptation to light dry land, 
away from either ditch, marsh, or rivulet—The 
heart-leaved alder of Calabria, Alnus cordifolia, 
grows with great rapidity, has deep-green, shin- 
ing leaves, deeply heart-shaped at the base, forms 
a rather large and very handsome round-headed 
tree, differs considerably in appearance from both 
Alnus glutinosa and Alnus incana, is one of the 
most elegant and interesting trees recently in- 
troduced to Great Britain, and, though a native 
of the sunny climes of Southern Italy, is perfectly 
hardy. The Mexican alder, Alnus jorullensis, is 
a beautiful species, very recently introduced ; and 
has large, oval, acuminate leaves, prominent in 
their veins, and downy on their under side.— 
The indented or denticulated elder, Alnus den- 
ticulata, is also a quite recently introduced spe- 
cles, and was sent from Russia, its native coun- 
try, by Dr. Fischer; and it grows with vigour 
and rapidity, is perfectly hardy, and has very 
large and somewhat indented leaves.—The Amer- 
ican species are believed to be inferior to the 
common alder in the economical value of their 
bark and timber; and the other species, which 
are comparatively new to British cultivators, have 
hitherto been tested or appreciated in no other | 
property than that of giving variety to the effects | 
of foliage in plantations.—Loudon’s Encyclopedia 
of Plants—WMarshall on Planting.—Bath Leiters 
and Papers.—WNicol’s Planter’s Kalendar.—Miller’s 
Diciionary.— Gilpin’s Forest Scenery.— Transac- 
tions of the L. Horticultural Society—Doyle’s Prac- 
tical Husbandry. — Sir John Sinclair's General 
Report of Scotland. 
ALDER (Berry- Buanine)ybotanically, Rham- 
nus frangula and Rhamnus alpina. ‘Two species 
of berry-bearing shrubs of the buckthorn genus. 
The frangula, or plain berry-bearing alder, com- 
prises the principal varieties, the common black, 
the dwarf, and the American smooth-leaved. The 
common black berry-bearing alder grows natu- 
rally in the woods of England; and is, sometimes 
ignorantly, sometimes knavishly, confounded with 
Rhamnus catharticus, the medicinal buckthorn. 
It attains a height of about ten feet, rises with 
an upright»stem, and sends out on all sides a 
profusion of branches. Its bark is smooth, of a 
bluish colour, and so dappled all over with white 
