Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/368

ALDER. not very good for fuel, but affords one of the best kinds of charcoal for the manufacture of gunpowder, upon which account it is often grown as coppice-wood. Great numbers of small alder trees are used in Scotland for making staves for herring barrels. The wood is particularly valuable on account of its property of remaining for a long time under water without decay, and is therefore used for the piles of bridges, for pumps, sluices, pipes, cogs of mill-wheels, and similar purposes. The bark is used for tanning and for dyeing. It produces a yellow or red color, or, with copperas, a black color. The leaves and female catkins are employed in the same way by the tanners and dyers of some countries. The bark is bitter and astringent. The individual tree, viewed by itself, may be regarded as somewhat stiff and formal in appearance, but in groups or clusters it is ornamental. The northern limit of the common alder is the Swedish shore of the Gulf of Bothnia, in the south of Ångermannland, where it is called the sea alder, because it is only in the lowest grounds, near the sea, that it occurs. The gray or white alder (Alnus incana), a native of many parts of continental Europe, especially of the Alps, and also of North America and of Kamtchatka, but not of Great Britain, differs from the common alder in having acute leaves, downy beneath, and not glutinous. It attains a rather greater height, but in very cold climates and unfavorable situations appears as a shrub. It occurs on the Alps at an elevation above that to which the common alder extends, and becomes abundant also where that species disappears in the northern part of the Scandinavian peninsula. The wood is white, fine-grained, and compact, but readily rots under water. The bark is used in dyeing. Alnus cordifolia is a large and handsome tree, with cordate acuminate leaves, a native of the south of Italy, but found to be quite hardy in England. Some of the American species are mere shrubs. The bark of the smooth alder (Alnus serrulata), found from south New England to Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Florida, is used in dyeing. The green or mountain alder (Alnus viridis) ranges from north New England to the shores of Lake Superior,and northward and southward to North Carolina. Alnus oregona is a handsome species of the northern Pacific coast region. In the mountain regions of Alaska and elsewhere alders are the first arborescent growth to succeed conifers swept away by avalanches or other means. Several species are natives of the Himalayas.

ALDER LEAF AND CATKINS.

. Leaves of a plant doubtfully allied to the alder have been described from the Cretaceous rocks of Greenland and North America under the name Alnophyllum, while true alders attained a considerable degree of development in Tertiary time throughout the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa.

ALDER FLY. One of the semi-aquatic neuropterous insects of the family Sialidæ. See.

ALDERMAN, al'der-man. The designation used in the United States for the representa- tive of the citizens of a district or ward in a city or large town, whose duty it is to attend the local legislature and enact municipal regula- tions. The title originally derived from the Anglo-Saxon ealdorman, compounded of ealdor, older, and man, and applied to persons of high and hereditary distinction, such as princes, earls, and governors. Whether any definite and invari- able functions were connected with the ancient rank of ealdorman does not seem to be very clearly ascertained. Its special signification in the titles, "Alderman of all England" (aldermannus totius Angliæ) and "King's Alderman" (aldermannus regis), is not distinctly indicated. There were also aldermen of counties, hundreds, cities, boroughs, and castles. At present in England, Wales, and Ireland, aldermen are officers in- vested with certain powers in the municipal cor- porations, either as civil magistrates, or as depu- ties of the chief civil magistrates in cities and towns corporate. The corresponding title in Scotland is bailie. In the majority of American cities, aldermen form a legislative body, having limited judicial powers in matters of internal police regulation, etc., though in many cities they hold separate courts and have magisterial powers to a considerable extent. (See sections on Local Government in the articles on the im- portant countries, and for the powers and func- tions of aldermen in American cities, see the articles on cities.)

ALDERMAN LIZ'ARD. The name, in California, of the obese Chuckwalla (q.v.).

ALDERNEY, al'der-ni (Fr. Aurigny, the Riduna of Antoninus). One of the Channel Islands (q.v.), separated from Cape La Hague, France, by a perilous channel. 7 miles wide, called the Race of Alderney. It is 4½ miles long, with an extreme breadth of 1½ miles and an area of 3 square miles (1962 acres) (Map: France, D 2). The southeast coast is lofty and