IRISH GARDENING 



VOLUME X 



No. 1 18 



Editor-J. W. Besant. 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



DECEMBER 

 i9'5 



The Holly, 



N«w ^ 



BOTAN 

 UAttU 



Above, the Holly decks the scene, 

 With prickly leaves of glossy green, 

 And girt with balls of scarlet dye. 

 Boon Nature's provident snpi)ly 

 Of banquets for the eager bird, 

 Save when to village church transferr'd 

 It lends symbolic colours gay 

 To grace the Christian holidav. 



—Bp. Mant. 



At ordinary seasons we think of the Holly as a 

 hedge plant or as an ornamental evergreen, but 

 on the approach of Christmas it assumes an 

 altogether different significance. Then there is 

 a big demand on the Holly for decoration of a 

 different kind and much hunting sometimes for 

 the best berried bits. When exactly the Holly 

 was first used for Christmas decorations I do 

 not know, but it is certainly a long time ago, for 

 it was early in the last century that the Irish 

 poet, John Keegan, wrote the following verses, 

 entitled " The Ivy and the Holly Girl " :— 



" Come buy my nice fresh Ivy and my Holly 



sprigs so green, 

 I have the finest branches that ever yet were 



seen. 

 Come buy from me, good Christian, and let me 



home, I pray. 

 And I'll wish you ' Merry Christmas Time ' and a 

 ' Hap])y New Year's Day.' 



" Ah ! wont you buy my Ivy ? the loveliest ever 



seen ! 

 Ah ! wont you buy my Holly boughs all you who 



love the green ? 

 Do take a little bunch of each, and on my knees 



rU pray 

 That God may bless your Christmas and your 



' New Year's Day.' 

 ****** 



" 'Twas a dying maiden sung while the cold hail 

 rattled down, 



And fierce winds whistled mournfully o'er 

 Dublin's dreary town. 



One stiff hand clutched her Ivy sprigs and Holly- 

 boughs so fair, 



With the other she kept bru.shing the hail-droi<s 

 from her hair. 



" I dreamed of wanderings in the w( ods aiion^st 



the Holly green, 

 I dreamed of my own native cot, and iiorch with 



Ivy screen, 

 I dreamed of lights for ever dimmed, of h(ii)es 



that can't return— 

 And droi)i)ed a tear on Cliristmas fin s that never 



more can burn." 



The above four verses are taken from Mr. 

 William Dallimore's book on the '' Holly, Yew 

 and Box," where it accompanies quotations 

 from other poets, many of whom have sung the 

 praises of the Holly. 



It is not my intention to discuss the cultiva- 

 tion of the Holly at this season, which is perhai:ts 

 the worst of all for planting, but it may be 

 interesting to consider its flowers. The flowers 

 of the Holly are not conspicuous, and are prob- 

 ably seldom taken much notice of bj' casual 

 observers, but they have some interest in relation 

 to the production of berries. It is not un- 

 common to receive enquiries as to why certain 

 Holly trees do not produce berries. The fact 

 is that most Hollies are of one sex only — that is, 

 on one tree the flowers will be found to have 

 perfect stamens and undeveloped pistils, and 

 on another the pistils will be perfect but the 

 stamens undeveloped. Hence if the tree be a 

 male one bearing fertile stamens only it can 

 bear no fruit. On the other hand, a female or 

 pistillate tree may be so situated that ])ollen 

 from a staminate tree cannot reach it, and in 

 this case also there may be no crop of berries. 

 In both cases some berries may be produced, 

 due to the presence of a limited number of 

 flowers having both stamens and ])istils fully 

 developed ; and further, berries may be produced 

 which do not contain fertile seeds due to im- 

 perfect pollination. It is therefore where Hollies 

 are grown in quantity that there is the greatest 

 chance of a good crop of berries, 



