66 



JOURNAL oy HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jmnary 20, 1876. 



fouad the reference to the Holy Bush and Yew speaking of 

 Christmas times; beside, also, it used to be spelt "Holy" 

 years back. In England Holly also bears the names of Hnlver, 

 Hulfere, and Holme. 



Dr. Prior says, " Holly or Holm is on the eastern border 

 called HoUeu, the old form of the word, and that from which 

 holm has been formed by the change of n to m, as Lime from 

 Line ; A.S. Iiolen or liohgn, a word derived from L. Vlcx, 

 which in the middle ages was confused with Hex, the Holm 

 Oak of the ancients, whence the adjective xiligna, and with the 

 prefixed aspirate, huUijna and holegn. The form UoUij will 

 have been the more readily adopted, from the branches of this 

 shrub being used for Olive branches, and strewed before the 

 image of Jesus, in certain solemnities of the Church that 

 represented His entrance into Jerusalem. Thus in Googe's 

 Naogeorgns — 



" He iR even the game that, long agone. 



While in the Bti-eete He roade. 



The people mette, and Olive bowes 



So thicke before Him etroade." 



Hulver is a corruption of the French for Olive, Olivier. 



There are several distinct varieties, and very many shades 

 of each variety. The following are some of the kinds of 

 common Holly — Narrow-leaved, Broad-leaved, the High-Clere, 

 the Thiok-margin-leaved, the Laurel-leaved, the Ciliated-leaved, 

 the Smaller, the Recurved, the Serrated, the Curled, the Fierce 

 or Ferooiously-spined-leaved, the Thick-leaved, the Aged or 

 Spineless, the Variegated-leaved, the White-edged-leaved, the 

 Gold-edged -leaved, the White-spotted -leaved or Milkmaid 

 Holly , the Gold-spotted, the Silver- blotched Hedgehog, the Gold- 

 blotched Hedgehog, the Yellow- fruited, and the Gold-fruited. 

 The largest HoUies in Kent, Buckingham, and Surrey grow in 

 loam on chalk. Holly likes a free loamy soil, and attains its 

 largest height in rich sandy loam. 



The Holly tree has been admired from the earliest periods. 

 In former times it was largely grown for hedges. Evelyn's 

 Holly hedge at Saye's Court, Deptford, 100 feet long, 9 feet high, 

 5 feet iu diameter, has been celebrated ever since the time of 

 Ray — i.e., about two hundred years ago. There are also some 

 hedges iu France over two hundred years old. Evelyn observes, 

 "I have seen hedges, or, if you will, stout walls of Holly, 

 20 feet in height kept upright, and the gilded sort budded 

 low, and in two or three places one above another, shorn and 

 fashioned into columns and pilasters architecturally shaped, 

 and at due distance ; than which nothing can be more plea- 

 sant, the berry adorning the intercolumuiations with scarlet 

 festoons and encarpa." There are several noted Holly hedges 

 in Scotland. The only objection to Holly as a hedge is its 

 slow growth. When obtained it is the best hedge and the 

 least expensive to maintain. 



The wood of the Holly has peculiar properties. It is white, 

 except in the centre of old trucks, there brown. It is very 

 useful in joining, cabinet-making and turning, mathematical 

 instrument making, wood-engraving, for whip handles and 

 walking sticks, also for veneering ; and though the wood is 

 naturally so white, when dyed it makes a good substitute for 

 ebony. It is not grown enough to make it much used as a 

 veneer. As in Mistletoe, the bark affords birdlime. The 

 decoction of the bark has been used to calm a cough. The 

 berries are purgative, six or eight cause violent vomiting. 

 Though the birds, especially the thrush and blackbird, feed on 

 them they are considered poisonous to men. 



The custom of placing evergreens in places of worship pre- 

 vailed before the introduction of Christianity, and iu proof of 

 which reference is made to texts of Scripture, particularly 

 in Isaiah and Nehemiah, as having reference to it ; but the 

 evergreens originally made use of were the branches of the 

 Pine, Fir, Cedar, and sprigs of Box. Holly appears to have 

 been first used for this purpose by the early Christians at Rome 

 and was probably adopted for decorating the churches at 

 Christmas, because Holly was used in the great saturnalia 

 which occurred at that period ; and it was the poUoy of the 

 early fathers of the Church to assimilate the festivals of the 

 pagans and Christians as closely as could be permitted iu their 

 outward forms. It was customary among the ancient Romans 

 to send boughs of Holly during even the satiunalia, as em- 

 blematical of good wishes, with the gifts they presented to 

 their friends at that season, and the Holly became then to be 

 considered as an emblem of peace and good will. It was for 

 this reason, independently of any wish to conciUate the pagans, 

 well adapted to be an emblem of the principal festival of 

 Christianity, whicbJ',incnlcateB peace and good will to man. 



Whatever may be the origin of the practice, it appears to be 

 of very great antiquity. In England perhaps the earliest 

 record of this custom is in a carol in praise of the HoUy written 

 about four hundred years ago, in the reign of Henry VI. Stowe 

 in his " Survey of London," published in 1598, says that in 

 his time every man's house, the parish churches, the corners 

 of the streets, conduits, market cross, etc., were decorated with 

 Holme [Holly] , Ivy, and Bays at Christmas. 



The Holly is of long duration, as we read of a tree in Tus- 

 culum 30 feet iu circumference, with ten branches of such 

 magnitude that each might pass for a tree. This single tree 

 alone resembles a wood. Cole, in his " Paradise of Plants," 

 says he knew a similar tree. The owner cut it down and 

 caused it to be sawn into boards, and made himself thereof a 

 coffin, and left enough to make his wife one too, both parties 

 being very corpulent. There are Hollies in Frensham in 

 Surrey some CO feet high. Evelyn mentions some large Hollies 

 near his place at Wootton in Surrey, iu the neighbourhood 

 of which was once a fort called Holmsdale Castle, from, as 

 he supposes, the number of Holmes or Hollies which once 

 grew there. The names of Holmsdale, Holmwood, and Holme 

 Castle occur in various parts of Scotland, and are generally 

 supposed to have been applied in consequence of the abund- 

 ance of Holly at these places at the time they were named. 

 In 18G2 Mr. Mayhew made a calculation that about 50,000 

 bunches of Holly and 50,000 of Mistletoe were sold in London 

 every season ; and that £200 worth of Holly was required only 

 for the sprigs to be stuck in the puddings in the metropolis. 



COVERING VINE BORDERS. 



After what has been written on this subject most culti- 

 vators will doubtless prefer having the roots of the Vines pro- 

 ducing late-keeping Grapes in inside borders; and if the roots 

 or a portion of them are outside, they will feel safer if the 

 surfaces of such borders can be protected from heavy rains 

 in the autumn and winter. That an influx of moisture to 

 Grapes after they have ripened is detrimental to their keeping 

 is pretty generally admitted ; but much, as Mr. Taylor has 

 reminded us, depends on the temperature and atmosphere of 

 the house, and Mr. Walker adds very convincing evidence of 

 the importance of this point. He has told us of his failure 

 to preserve Grapes where the border was covered with glass, 

 when he was compelled to have damp soil turned up in the 

 house. 



There is little doubt that a dry border and a damp atmo- 

 sphere is more prejudicial to the keeping of Grapes than is a 

 wet border with a dry atmosphere. We seldom find Black 

 Hamburgh Grapes hang better than those in orchard houees 

 where the Vines are trained very thinly and where a constant 

 circulation of air is aiiorded, not for the Vines but for the 

 trees. Very commonly in such houses do Black Hamburgh^ 

 hang plump and fresh until January : an advantage to their 

 thin training and full light and air-exposure is that the Vines 

 are generally planted inside and trained up the pillars. 



That Grapes have frequently been preserved until the pre- 

 sent time, when the borders have not been covered, is unde- 

 niable, and " W. E." has quoted a case in point where the 

 house in addition to the Vines contained plants which had to 

 be watered occasionally. I have preserved Grapes under similar 

 circumstances by bestowing great care on the temperature and 

 ventilation, but I found the work much more easy after I 

 obtained shutters for the borders. 



That heavy autumnal rains facilitate the decay of Grapes I 

 found out by accident. The down pipe conducting the watir 

 from the vinery became obstructed, and before it could be 

 rectified the border near it became thoroughly saturated, acd 

 the Grapes on the three Vines which were so much soaked 

 decayed much more rapidly than those on the other Vines in 

 the same house. 



I have found too that when shutters are provided they should , 

 if much rain fall, be used early in the autumn, and not withheld 

 until the Vines have cast their foUago. AVith heavy autumnal 

 rains, when the foliage of the Vines is more or less in an active 

 state, much more water is conveyed to the fruit than by a 

 similar weight of rain after the foUage has fallen. Indeed I 

 am not certain that the Grapes which are cut and the stems 

 inserted in bottles of water do not receive as much moisture 

 as do those on Vines in uncovered borders and after the foliage 

 has fallen. 



During late years 1 have covered my borders early — that is, 

 considerably before the Vines have cast their foliage, and have 



