In his _Sylva Florifera_ (1823), Henry Phillips admits us to a glimpse into the domestic economy of our great-grandmothers, who had to contend with certain difficulties from which modern households are happily exempt. "The good housewife," he says, "is not unacquainted with a property in the leaves [of alder], with which she strews her chambers before sweeping, for, when fresh, they are covered with a glutinous liquor that entangles fleas like birds in birdlime." The English name "alder" has been disguised by the addition of the _d_. It was _alr_ in Anglo-Saxon, _r_ taking the place of the Latin _n_ in _alnus_, which is preserved in the French _aune_. In one form or another it exists in all Teutonic dialects; we, in Scotland, retain very closely the Anglo-Saxon sound when we speak of "eller," though we have allowed the intrusive _d_ to slip into Elderslie, the paternal home of William Wallace. This tree has given rise to countless place-names; in England--Alresford on the Itchen, Allerton (eight or nine times), Allerdale, Ellerbeck, Ellerburn, Ellerton, and so on; in Scotland--Allershaw in Lanarkshire, Allerton in Cromarty, Allers near Glasgow, Allerbeck in Dumfriesshire, Ellerrigs, Argyllshire; Ellerslie, in several counties, etc. I incline to think that the frequent and puzzling name Elrig or Eldrig may be associated with alders. In Gaelic the alder is called _fearn_, which appears in a multitude of place-names, such as Balfern, Glenfarne, Farnoch, Fearn, Fernie, and Fernaig. The consonant _f_ being liable in Gaelic to be silenced by aspiration, the descriptive name _amhuinn-fhearn_, alder river, has been worn down into Nairn, and probably some, at least, of the numerous streams called Earn or Erne derive their titles from a similar contraction. Among the exotic species of alder I only know of one worth attention for ornamental purposes, to wit, the heart-leaved alder (_A. cordata_); which, being found indigenous only in Corsica and Southern Italy, might scarcely be expected to take kindly to our humid climate. It does so, however, growing as vigorously as our native alder, and proving somewhat more decorative. The leaves are of a shining, dark green with lighter undersides, and the cones are at least an inch long, carried erect. The grey alder (_A. incana_) has nothing to recommend it; except, perhaps, to Norwegian anglers, who know how the fieldfares nest among its thickets in garrulous colonies. It is not easy to understand how the British Isles have missed having this species as a native, for it is very widely distributed over Europe from the shores of the Arctic Ocean on the north to Servia and the Apennines on the south. It is also spread widely over the northern United States and Canada. [Illustration: TULIP TREE AT WADHAM COLLEGE, OXFORD] [Illustration: TULIP TREE (_Liriodendron tulipifera_) AT ALBURY PARK, SURREY Height 96 ft., girth 11 ft. 8 in.] The Tulip Tree