January 13, 1876. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



23 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



JANUARY 13—19, 1876. 



Royal Society at 8.3T p.m. 



Qiieckett (Microscopical) Club at S p.m. 



2 SCXDAV AFTER EpIPHiNY. 



London Institute, 5 p.m. Victoria Institute, P.ii . 

 Zoological Sjciety at 8.30 p.m. 



Koyal Horticultural Sjcioty— Fruit and Floral Com- 

 [raitteea at 11 a.m. 



Average 



Temperature near 



Liondun. 



Sun 

 Bisea. 



Snn 



SetB. 



Moon 

 Kisea. 



Moon 



Sets. 



Moon's 

 Aee. 



b. m. 



7 18 



8 43 



10 3 



11 20 

 morn. 



S5 



1 50 



h. m. 



9 43 



9 59 



10 10 



10 21 



10 31 



10 44 



10 57 



Days. 

 17 

 18 

 19 

 20 

 21 

 < 

 23 



Clock 

 after 

 Sun. 



m. B. 



9 9 



9 23 



9 43 



10 4 



10 24 



10 43 



11 1 



Day 



of 



Year. 



13 

 14 

 15 



IG 

 17 

 18 

 19 



Prom obaeryationa taken near London daring forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 43.4'; and its night temperature 



THE MISTLETOE AND ITS CULTURE. 



[This ia the first part of a commanicition to the Maidstone 

 Gardeners' Mutaal Improvement Association by its Srcrftary, 

 Mr. J. Kentish. The second part on the Holly will follow.] 



HE Mistletoe is, as you are aware, an ever- 

 green parasitical busb, found very rarely 

 growing upon the Oak, but principally upon 

 Apple trees, and in England is therefore 

 more common in our cider counties. It is 

 found on the Lime trees in Buckingham- 

 shire, and on the Black Poplar in Surrey. 

 In Jerusalem and Spain it is found on the 

 OHve tree. The roots of the Mistletoe pene- 

 trate the bark of the tree on which it grows, 

 and extend themselves between the inner bark and the 

 soft wood where the sap is most abundant. The roots of 

 the Mistletoe, as the tree on which it grows advances iu 

 growth, become embedded in the solid wood. The root, 

 however, in no way unites with the tree, save for the 

 purpose of feeding its own plant from the sap ; thus the 

 effect of the Mistletoe upon the tree must be to injure 

 the branch, particularly the part beyond the Mistletoe. 

 This parasitical plant absorbs the ascending and descend- 

 ing sap and gives nothing in return ; it solely robs, and is 

 on that account not liked in orchards. This, I said, is a 

 parasitical plant — i c, it not only lives on another, but 

 maintains its hfe by robbing of its sap the tree on which 

 it grows ; it is therefore more hurtful than many other 

 plants growing on trees, which are termed Epiphytes, the 

 difference being that these derive their nutriment from 

 the decay of the outer bark or from the atmosphere. 



One writer states that there are two experiments which 

 remain to be tried with Mistletoe — 1st, Can it be propa- 

 gated by inserting cuttings in the live bark in the manner 

 of buds or grafts ? Snd, Whether a pl.ant of Mistletoe 

 would keep alive the tree on which it grows after that 

 tree was prevented from producing either leaves or 

 shoots? The Mistletoe is seldom known to cease grow- 

 ing whOe the tree is alive, 'but when the tree dies the 

 Mistletoe dies also. The method of propagatiog is by 

 the berries, they being made to adhere to the bark of a 

 living tree. The common agency by which this is effected 

 is supposed to be by birds, especially the missel thrush, 

 which after having satisfied itself by eating the berries 

 wipes off such of them as may adhere to the outer part 

 of its beak against the branch of the tree on which it has 

 alighted, and so some of the seeds are thus left sticking 

 to the bark. Aristotle .and Pliny among the ancients, 

 and Dr. Walker among the molerns, considered that the 

 Mistletoe was propagated by the excrement of the birds 

 which had fed on the berries, supposing that the heat of 

 the stomach and jirocess of digestion were necessary to 

 prepare the seeds for vegetation. They first suggested 

 the idea of trying by experiment whether the seeds would 

 vegetate without passing through the body of a bird ; and 

 at his suggestion Mr. Doody, an apothecary of London, 

 inserted the seed of the Mistletoe into the bark of a White 

 Poplar tree, which grew in his garden, with complete suc- 



No. 772.— Vol. XXX., New Series. 



cess. This, Professor Martin observes, has been since 

 done by many persons, both by rubbing the berries on 

 the smooth bark of various trees and by inserting them 

 in a cleft, or in a small hole bored on purpose, which was 

 the mode adopted by Doody. Mr. Baxter, of the Oxford 

 Botanic Gardens, in the spring of 1833 rubbed nine 

 Mistletoe seeds on the smooth bark of an Apple tree, all 

 of which germinated. Two produced only one radicle 

 each, six produced two radicles each, and one produced 

 three ; from which it follows that two radicles are more 

 common than one. In the seeds of the i^lant there are as 

 many embryos as radicles. The celebrated Du Hamel 

 arguing that the seeds of the Mistletoe like the seeds of 

 other plants would germinate anywhere, provided they 

 had a suitable degree of humidity, made them sprout, 

 not only on the barks of different kinds of living trees, 

 but on dead branches— on bricks, tiles, stones, the ground, 

 &c. But though they germinated in these situations they 

 did not live any time, except on the bark of living trees. 

 M. Dn Trochet made seeds of the Mistletoe germinate on 

 the two sides of the frame of a window, and in both cases 

 the radicles directed themselves towards the interior of 

 the room as if in quest of darkness. The first mdication 

 of germination is the appearance of one or more radicles. 

 I also learn that Mistletoe can be easily propagated on 

 Thorns, or Crab Apples planted in pots for the conve- 

 nience of remov.al. The berries of the Mistletoe, and also 

 of Holly, are used for making birdhme, but differences of 

 opinion exist as to which make the best. 



Mistletoe used at one time to be used in England as a 

 remedy for epilepsy, but it is not now used in medicine. 



Our Christmas festivities undoubtedly were derived from 

 the heathen nations who used the Mistletoe. The 25th 

 of December was originally their great saturnalia day : 

 hence the early records of revelries and excesses, includ- 

 ing the Lord of Misrule and other strange characters. 



The Mistletoe, particularly that which grows on the 

 Oak, was held in great veneration by the ancient Britons. 

 At the beginning of their year the Druids went in solemn 

 procession into the forests and raised an altar at the foot 

 of the finest Mistletoe-bearing Oak, on which they in- 

 scribed the names of those gods which were considered 

 as the most powerful. After this the principal Druid, 

 clad in a white garment, ascended the tree and cropped 

 the Mistletoe with a consecrated golden knife or pruning 

 hook, the other Druids received it in a sheet of pure white 

 cloth which they held beneath the tree. The Mistletoe 

 was then dipped in water by the chief Druid and dis- 

 tributed among the people as a preservative against 

 witchcraft and diseases. If any part of the plant touched 

 the ground it was considered to be the omen of some 

 dreadful misfortune which was .about to fall upon the 

 land. The ceremony was always performed when the 

 moon was six days old, and two white bulls were 

 sacrificed when it was concluded. I may here observe 

 that a gentleman in Penzance, Cornwall, possesses a 

 crescent of gold about the shape of and to represent the 

 moon immediately after she had passed the first quarter. 

 This golden crescent used to be worn by the chief Druid 



No. H24.— Vol.. LV., Old Bebies. 



