_Of the Alder._
1. _Alnus_, the alder, (both _conifera_ and _jülifera_) is of all other
the most faithful lover of watery and boggy places, and those most
despis’d weeping parts, or water-galls of forests; .............
_crassisque paludibus alni_; for in better and dryer ground they attract
the moisture from it, and injure it. They are propagated of trunchions,
and will come of seeds (for so they raise them in Flanders, and make
wonderful profit of the plantations) like the poplar; or of roots,
(which I prefer) the trunchions being set as big as the small of ones
leg, and in length about two foot; whereof one would be plunged in the
mud. This profound fixing of aquatick-trees being to preserve them
steddy, and from the concussions of the winds, and violence of waters,
in their liquid and slippery foundations. They may be placed at four or
five foot distance, and when they have struck root, you may cut them,
which will cause them to spring in clumps, and to shoot out into many
useful poles. But if you plant smaller sets, cut them not till they are
arriv’d to some competent bigness, and that in a proper season: Which
is, for all the aquaticks and soft woods, not till Winter be well
advanc’d, in regard of their pithy substance. Therefore, such as you
shall have occasion to make use of before that period, ought to be well
grown, and fell’d with the earliest, and in the first quarter of the
increasing moon, that so the successive shoot receive no prejudice:
Some, before they fell, disbark their alders, and other trees; of which
see Cap. III. Book III. But there is yet another way of planting alders
after the Jersey manner, and as I receiv’d it from a most ingenious
gentleman of that country, which is, by taking trunchions of two or
three foot long, at the beginning of 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 knurr
about that part, which being set, does (like the gennet-moil apple-tree)
never fail of growing and striking root. There is a black sort more
affected to woods, and drier grounds; and bears a black berry, not so
frequently found; yet growing somewhere about Hampsted, as the learned
Dr. Tan. Robinson observes.
2. There are a sort of husbands who take excessive pains in stubbing up
their alders, where-ever they meet them in the boggie places of their
grounds, with the same indignation as one would extirpate the most
pernicious of weeds; and when they have finished, know not how to
convert their best lands to more profit than this (seeming despicable)
plant might lead them to, were it rightly understood. Besides, the
shadow of this tree, does feed and nourish the very grass which grows
under it; and being set, and well plashed, is an excellent defence to
the banks of rivers; so as I wonder it is not more practis’d about the
Thames, to fortifie, and prevent the mouldring of the walls, and the
violent weather they are exposed to.
3. You may cut aquatic-trees every third or fourth year, and some more
frequently, as I shall shew you hereafter. They should also be abated
within half a foot of the principal head, to prevent the perishing of
the main stock; and besides, to accelerate their sprouting. In setting
the trunchions, it were not amiss to prepare them a little after they
are fitted to the size, by laying them a while in water; this is also
practicable in willows, &c.
4. Of old they made boats of the greater parts of this tree, and
excepting Noah’s ark, the first vessels we read of, were made of this
material.
When hollow alders first the waters try’d,{157:1}
And down the rapid Poe light alders glide.{157:2}
And as then, so now, are over-grown alders frequently sought after, for
such buildings as lie continually under water, where it will harden like
a very stone; whereas being kept in any unconstant temper, it rots
immediately, because its natural humidity is of so near affinity with
its adventitious, as Scaliger assigns the cause. Vitruvius tells us,
that the morasses about Ravenna in Italy, were pil’d with this timber,
to superstruct upon, and highly commends it. I find also they us’d it
under that famous Bridge at Venice, the _Rialto_, which passes over the
_Gran-Canal_, bearing a vast weight. Jos. Bauhimus pretends, that in
tract of time, it turns to stone; which perhaps it may seem to be (as
well as other aquatick) where it meets with some lapidescant quality in
the earth and water.
5. The poles of alder are as useful as those of willows; but the coals
far exceed them, especially for gun-powder: The wood is likewise useful
for piles, pumps, hop-poles, water-pipes, troughs, sluces, small trays,
and trenchers, wooden-heels; the bark is precious to dyers, and some
tanners, and leather-dressers make use of it; and with it, and the
fruits (instead of galls) they compose an ink. The fresh leaves alone
applied to the naked soal of the foot, infinitely refresh the surbated
traveller. The bark macerated in water, with a little rust of iron,
makes a black dye, which may also be us’d for ink: The interior rind of
the black alder purges all hydropic, and serous humours; but it must be
dry’d in the shade, and not us’d green, and the decoction suffer’d to
settle two or three days, before it be drunk.
Being beaten with vinegar, it heals the itch certainly: As to other uses
the swelling bunches, which are now and then found in the old trees,
afford the inlayer pieces curiously chambletted, and very hard, _&c._
but the faggots better for the fire, than for the draining of grounds by
placing them (as the guise is) in the trenches; which old rubbish of
flints, stones, and the like gross materials, does infinitely exceed,
because it is for ever, preserves the drains hollow, and being a little
moulded over, will produce good grass, without any detriment to the
ground; but this is a secret, not yet well understood, and would merit
an express paragraph, were it here seasonable,
....._& jam nos inter opacas
Musa vocat salices_.......
FOOTNOTES:
{157:1}
Tunc alnos primum fluvii sensêre cavatas.
_Georg. 1._
{157:2}
Nec non & torrentem undam levis innatat alnus
Missa Pado ............
2.