EVEEGEEEN TREES— THE AMERICAN UOLLl. 207 



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SO charming, so altogether perfect, and so desirable as an ornament for the cultivated 

 lawns and shrubberies. Nay, more than this, we feel that we can say most sincerely, 

 that we know of no prized and costly exotic from far-off foreign climes, that can sur- 

 pass it, especially when thus decked out with its jewels of brilliant coral. And, not 

 only the size and rich deep green of its foliage, but the quaint and rare cutting of its 

 leaves, give to it a striking and peculiar effect, and add much to its value. "We 

 would gladly have paid an extravagant sum to have had even one of these charming 

 specimens, in all its perfection, growing on our own grounds ; but, finding from the 

 size of their trunks, and their ages, as well as from the stones and rocks among which 

 they grew, that we could not have the faintest hope of success in transplanting them, 

 we bore away as splendid trophies — barbarous as it may seem — a load of branches, 

 coral and emerald, for admiring friends, placing a rich boquet of them even in front of 

 our church pulpit, where the usual offering of flowers is laid, w'hich formed the fittest 

 possible decoration of the sanctuary, the dark and glossy leaves of strange and mystic 

 shape, and scarlet fruit, harmonizing finely with the dark, carved rose-wood of the 

 sacred desk. 



The Holly, with us, is seldom found in the open ground ; it generally sequesters 

 itself in the thicket of the forest, where, in the solemn shadow, and under the drip of 

 the trees, it best flourishes. This peculiar characteristic of the Holly tree constitutes 

 its great excellence for planting out as an evergreen among other trees and shrubs. 

 Although, perhaps, it grows in more beautiful shape, and makes a more perfect tree, 

 when standing unsheltered in the free air and broad sunshine, yet its growth in such 

 situations is exceedingly slow and laborious, and without a great deal of moisture it 

 probably would not attain a height of six feet in twenty years ; while under the moist 

 shelter of the forest it increases rapidly, making often a foot or more of growth in a 

 year, and we found numerous specimens in our after excursions that had thus attained 

 the height of twenty-five to thirty feet. There are so many of our most ornamental 

 evergreens — as the Firs, Spruces, <fec., — that refuse to flourish under the shade and 

 drip of other trees, that a tree that makes its most rapid growth, and rejoices in such 

 situations, is a very great desideratum. We have been compelled to leave awkward 

 spaces and ugly gaps in plantations of this kind, from the proximity of some large 

 deciduous trees, or the broad shade of some grand and beautiful Elm, whose glories 

 Ave could not spare, though it would permit no other growth under its far-extended 

 branches. In such places, however, our friend the Holly tree finds its natural and 

 appropriate shelter, and flourishes in grateful luxuriance. There its leaves assume a 

 darker, richer, glossier green, kept always moist and darkened from the summer's 

 " too excessive ray ;" and its otherwise dwarfed proportions will thus assume a lighter 

 form and a more stately size. 



In transplanting the Holly, we have generally found the roots of the small trees to 

 run near the surface, and above the roots of other trees ; and this renders them easy 

 to take up when young. In re-setting them, we would suggest the commixture of 

 stones and rocks in the soil in which they are planted, and a good covering of 

 and forest leaves 



