January 9, 1868. ) 



JOURNAL OP HORTIOOLTURB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



2S 



greenhouse or conservatory to perfume the atmosphere. When 

 they have done bloominf^ in the spring I cut them down or 

 throw them away, but old plants when well cared for often do 

 well for years. 



Another very desirable winter-blooming plant is Jasminum 

 nudiflorum, which can be made to assume any shape you please 

 as a bush or a climber. Though common, it is, nevertheless, 

 useful and ornamental, brightening-up any dull corner with its 

 lively orange blossoms. 



Abelia uniHora is another very useful winter-flowering plant 

 of easy culture. It can be grown in a compost of turfy loam, 

 leaf mould, and sand, in well-drained pots, and will well repay 

 the cultivator for his care, by producing a profusion of lilac- 

 coloured Peutstemon-like flowers in succession all through the 

 winter. 



TLiNTS IN FLOWEH IN BECEJIEEK, 

 Dec. 4. Malcnmia raaritinm 



Uaminculus ivpeud 



Lamium albmn 



Jasminum uudiflurum 



Beilifi peronnis 



perennis, double 

 „ 7. Viola odorata plena 



Daphne laureola 



Senecio vulgaris 



Polyanthus, vai-ious 



Viburuuiu tinus 

 „ 10. Arbutus unedo 



Small-leaved Box 



Corydalis lutea 



Luuiium purpureum 



— M. H., Acklam Hall, MidiUcshorougli-on-Tees. 



Dec. 10. Chimonanthus fragrang 

 „ 16. Garrya elliptica 



Hamamelis virginica 

 Ruscus aeulcatus 

 Viburnum tinus lucidnm 

 Double lilec Primrose 

 Erigerou Villavsii 

 Hesperis matronalis 

 Ancbxisa sempervirens 

 Viola tricolor, various 

 Erysimum Peroffskianum 

 Helleborus niger 

 Fyrethrum partbenium 

 Antirrhinum majus, var. 



20. 



24. 



EVERGREENS IN HOUSES. 



When the days are at the shortest, and the long dark nights 

 herald in but little of sunshine, and the old year is near its 

 dying-out, then we think of an ancient almost universal 

 custom in Christian countries, that of bringing in evergreens 

 from the woods to adorn our houses. Not only our homes, but 

 churches, chapels, theatres, concert rooms, every place, we try 

 to make glad with the growth of the summer we have left 

 behind. We bring in the Ivy, the Laurel, the IloUy, and the 

 Pine — anything and everything that will not fade before the 

 bitter cold blasts of winter. We count nothing trouble, and 

 spare no expense according to our means, to brighten-up our 

 homes, be they rich or poor. 



Varying taste and skill find expression in how we do all this. 

 Some gather the dark branches together and hang them up in 

 hall or corridor, a heavy, shapeless bundle, as if for it to be 

 there were enough, and with no feeling akin to that which 

 prompted the heathen in the old time to arrange for his gods to 

 see. Others put it here, and there, and everywhere, until 

 comfort is invaded, and yet no good effect gained. Others 

 make of it a work of art, with great care join dark leaves and 

 light together, relieved by scarlet berries, thus making a deli- 

 cate tracery for door, window, or arch, or small-leaved wreaths 

 for picture, bust, or statue. 



All do not share in this home decoration with the same 

 enthusiasm, some think nothing of it, and so make little do, and 

 then only as complying with a custom. Save tor custom sake 

 they would not mind if their homes stood out bare and leafless 

 as the trees outside ; and what is worse, they have no sympathy 

 with those who do it, call it mere child's play and make- 

 work, and not worth the trouble and expense, just for a few 

 weeks ; yet the same people never count the cost of a ball or 

 banquet which is but for a few hours. Some content them- 

 selves with twining a few sprigs among the gas burners, not 

 minding if they darken the dinner table below, and throw 

 strange shadows on the faces of their guests; whilst some, 

 again, thrust sprays in the windows between the sashes, 

 making them holdfasts against the storms which are sure to 

 come. 



Then there are some who object to decoration on the plea of 

 its spoiling their houses, like Mr. Butler, who, having bought a 

 new house for his bride, fears it will not last out their time, 

 and trembles at the sound of a hammer, lest a tack should be 

 driven into his boards, or a nail into his walls ; and is sure 

 that a Camellia from the conservatory would do just as well as 

 a cartload of evergreens. But his wife, unwilling that their 

 pretty home should be unadorned, and yet mindful of the 

 lately taken though low-spoken vow, brings all her skill and 

 ingenuity to work, and spends uncounted hours sewing small 

 pieces of Laurel, or Pine, or Ivy, to a broad strong band oi 



calico, which is then passed in and out among the pillars sup- 

 porting the staircase handrail. A largo Kern crowns the 

 summit, and the whole ia done with the aid of a thick needle. 

 Though her husband admired her taste, seeing his wish Lad 

 been obeyed and his property was uninjured, yet her mother 

 thought it " very useless work, all very well if she had the 

 time. Married people did not alwaj'S have much to spare. 

 For her part she thought it quite enough to put a buneh oi 

 Holly with berries on the plum pudding." 



" Yes," replied her sou, " and lot it burn away with tte 

 brandy." 



There are, too, some people who overdo the decoration, 

 crowding every available corner with heavy branches. With 

 them it is quantity, not quality — like the Doctor up at the Old 

 Lodge, who darkens his windows, and spoils his paintings, and 

 laughs at his wife when she becomes cross, and declares " th€ie 

 is no good in it ; for no sooner is the house cleaned down than 

 in comes a lot of dirty, sooty evergreens, with which the whole 

 place is grimed over. Fingermarks, large and broad enough 

 for a day labourer, are left upon chairs, walls, and everything ; 

 and what ia worse, his poor patients are not visited. It might 

 be all very well to house-decorate down in the south about 

 London, where the plants are clean, and where the evergreens 

 are green, not black, as they are about the Old Lodge." 



And then there are some who would not on any account take 

 evergreens into the homes of those who were suffering from a 

 near loss ; not that they are indifferent to the legend, or fancy 

 themselves beyond the reach of its blessing, but from a seem- 

 ing perverted idea " that it is not right do so." 



Few are like the Scotch gardener, who used to spend many 

 evenings providing evergreen.'?, and would have no place go un- 

 adorned. It is said that in his enthusiasm he one winter hung 

 a large piece of Pine over the ale barrel. Fine pieces of Aucuba 

 he used to send in for the parlour, with leaves broad and 

 bright, and as beautifully painted as those of a Croton ; and 

 ho used to say, " They would be as much thought of if they 

 were less strong and hardy ; and for winter uses they were 

 worth a vast deal more, for they would brave all the tempests 

 that blow over our i.«land, while the Croton would not survive the 

 first breath below .32°." Nor did other places go unremembered ; 

 even the kitchen must have its huge bunch hung up over the 

 new bacon, "to flavour it as itdried-in." Stable, outhouse, and 

 greenhouse, everywhere was there some reminder of the festive - 

 time. 



Then there was the little maiden who, a stranger to our 

 northern ways, ever took away the finest bunch of Holly tc 

 put over the bee hives, to let the bees know Christmas had 

 come, " lest there should be no luck in the coming summer, 

 for offended bees make no honey, and where she came from 

 they told the bees everything." 



And then there is the Grange, a grand place enough in its 

 way, yet nearly squeezed in at its centre, certainly much air 

 kept out of it, by the big Portugal Laurels, and Hollies, and the 

 like, grown so near to it, that the wonder is their roots have 

 not moved it before this. Why the boys and girls hving there 

 care for no evergreens to decorate with, save the Mistletoe, and 

 no wonder, they see so much all the year round. Their good 

 mother ever affirms that the only berries that never stain, 

 however hard they be trodden down into the carpets, are the 

 white berries of the Mistletoe, and truly within its influence 

 we all make merry, if there is any mirth left in us, and would 

 not that our evergreens should ever miss their complement ; 

 though, as the youngest Grange girl says, " Kisses at Christ- 

 mas under the Mistletoe do not mean anything but fun, so she 

 is not sure she cares about thtm." 



So with the thought that it is not only an old custom, 

 but a glad thing to do, may we ever brighten-up our homes to 

 their very utmost at Christmas-tide, for the sake of our friends 

 as well as our own. Let us to try to hang up our evergreens 

 with a deeper joy and a fuller reverence as the years pass. Ah ! 

 hang them up in very gladness, whatever be our surroundings, 

 for they will show forth as brightly in road- side cottage as in 

 stately mansion. — Maud. 



THE MISTLETOE IN FRANCE. 

 In Mr. Eobson's interesting paper on the Mistletoe, lately 

 published in the .Journal, I observe that he remarks — " I 

 believe that the Mistletoe is more plentiful in England than 

 in any other countrj-. I think I have heard of its growing in 

 the north-west of France, but less plentif liUy than in some of tis 



