HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



S3 



on the road from Birmingham to Acock's Green, 

 about twelve feet high. Tynningliam, near Dunbar, 

 boasts the Jargest holly bush in Scotland, and at 

 Preusham, in Surrey, some holly-tress reached a 

 height of sixty feet. It is an interesting fact that, 

 whilst the lower leaves are stiff and furnished with 

 spines, which serve to protect the plant from injury 

 from animals and other enemies, the new leaves 

 at the upper part, having no share in the defence 

 of the plant, do not possess this rigid character.* 

 The wood is close and white, and stains well, 

 taking especially a beautiful black. It is used 

 for Tunbridge ware and wood engravers' blocks ; 

 box and pear-tree only exceeding it in value for 

 the latter purpose. In very ancient times branches 

 of it were fastened to houses to defend them from 

 lightning, and as a protection]from witchcraft. Later 

 on the bark and leaves were used in fomentations, 

 and the dried and not dried berries were reputed to 

 possess very opposite qualities when swallowed. In 

 my young days, when I suffered from chilblains, 

 I was told that if I would only submit to have them 

 whipped with freshly-gathered holly-leaves till the 

 blood flowed, they would soou heal and never again 

 appear. I had not the courage to try this remedy, 

 but I believe it is still used in some country places. 

 Birdlime is now made from the bark. 



Holly is evidently a corruption of holy, — a 

 name given from its use in some of the early 

 Church festivals, when it was strewed instead of 

 olive-branches. Its use at Christmas time can be 

 traced to the Romans, who dedicated it to Saturn, 

 and used it largely in the decorations for his festival, 

 held at that time. The early Christians, therefore, 

 whilst quietly celebrating the birth of our Lord, 

 and keeping aloof from the riotous scenes around 

 them, were wont to deck their walls with holly that 

 they might avoid detection and punishment. Holly 

 symbolizes resurrection. Great interest attaches 

 to some holly-trees. In Argyleshire there is a 

 prophecy that when a particular holly-tree near 

 Inverary ceases to exist, and when certain other 

 things shall happen (some of which have already 

 come to pass), " then shall all the Argyle Campbells 

 be destroyed, excepting so many as shall escape on a 

 crooked and lame white horse " ; and we learn from 

 Notes and Queries that, in 1S61, "the roots were 

 exposed and loosened by the tide, and that the 

 grandfather of the present Duke of Argyle insisted 

 on an awkward bend being made in the line of public 

 road to avoid the necessity of cutting it down." 

 Near Dilston, in Northumberland, there is a 

 thick holly-bush, consisting of several trees close 



[* This is an exploded idea, although alluded to by Southey. 

 The young; leaves of the holly are soft and unprickly at first, 

 wherever they grow, and become hard and prickly after- 

 wards. The old leaves are not all shed at once, but are 

 gradually replaced by young, which always appear soft and 

 devoid of prickles.— Ed. S.-G.] 



together — the stems scored with initials and marks, 

 and which is said to have served as a " post-office " 

 for the passage of letters between the rebels and 

 their friends in the troubled times of 1715 and 1745. 

 A curious custom, called " holly bussing," was kept 

 at Netherwitten on Easter Tuesday a few years ago, 

 and may be now for all I know. The young people, 

 headed by the parish clerk, playing the fiddle, 

 betook themselves to a wood, where they gathered 

 holly, with which they afterwards decorated a stone 

 cross in the village, finishing the evening with 

 dancing. Mistletoe (Viscuni album) is a parasite 

 growing on many trees; most frequently on the 

 apple, and least often on the oak. So seldom, 

 indeed, is it found on the latter tree that it has 

 been doubted whether it ever attacks it ; there are 

 too many authentic instances, however, of its having 

 been there seen for this doubt still to exist. Whilst 

 it is found in France, Italy, Greece, and parts of 

 Asia, it is said never to grow in Ireland nor in 

 Devonshire. 



Tradition says that this lovely English county, 

 by some means, incurred the anger of the Druids, 

 who cursed it, and forbade the mistletoe ever to 

 grow there; and I have read, that, in an orchard 

 lying partly in Somersetshire and partly in Devon- 

 shire, mistletoe was to be found plentifully in the 

 Somersetshire part of it, whilst all attempts failed 

 to propagate it in the unlucky county. As to the 

 etymology of the word mistletoe, wise men disagree. 

 Prior says it is derived from mistiltan, A.-S. : 

 thus— mist!, different ; and tan, twig ; referring to 

 the difference existing between it and the plant 

 on which it is a parasite. Others assign the 

 name to the manner in which it was supposed to be 

 propagated by means of birds. Thrushes, black- 

 birds, and ringdoves are said to feed largely on the 

 berries. All know how sacred the mistletoe was to 

 the ancient Britons, and with what solemn cere, 

 monies their priests gathered it, cutting it down 

 with golden sickles, used only for that purpose, and 

 never allowing it to fall to the ground. It was said 

 by the Druids to be the winter home of the fairies* 

 who found, under its leaves, the shelter they lost 

 when other plants became bare. The priests distri- 

 buted pieces of it to the people, as charms against 

 witchcraft and many diseases. Great calamities 

 were portended when no mistletoe was to be found 

 on the oak; and it is probable that the reason why 

 the Druids planted apple-trees near their oak groves 

 was that they might remedy the defaults of nature 

 when it so suited their policy. Shakespeare's men- 

 tion of it as the "baleful mistletoe" is thought by 

 some to refer to the horrid rites practised by the 

 Druids when they gathered it; others interpret it 

 to allude to the injurious effect it was supposed to 

 have on the trees to which it fixed itself, or to the 

 belief that the berries were poisonous. When and 

 where the origin of kissing under it arose is un- 



