FLOVVERhYG SHRUBS. 147 



Spring blossoms are lovely, and Summer flowers gay, 

 But the chill winds will wither and chase them away ; 

 While the rude V^lasts of Autumn and Winter may rave. 

 In vain round the Holly — the Holly so brave. 



Though the brave old English gentleman no longer now is seen, 

 And customs old have passed away as things that ne'er have been. 

 Though wassail shout is heard no more, nor Mistletoe we see ; 

 They've lelt us still the Holly green, the bonny Holly-tree. 



— {An old song by an old lady.) — C. P. T. 



There is an old couplet that is common in the North of England 

 about the Holly : — ■ 



" O the Oak, and the Ash, and the bonny Holly tree. 

 They flourish best of all in the North countrie." 



The dark green evergreen leaves of the Holly, with their rich 

 garniture of vivid scarlet berries, which remain persistent all through 

 the Winter and far into the Spring, have been so often described or 

 alluded to in print, that they must be well known to all, even in 

 the colonies, and from its use in adorning houses and the churches 

 from Christmas-tide till Candlemas, or the beginning of Lent, 

 the Holly is much thought of and valued, by young and old, in 

 England ; but we miss both the evergreen leaves, and the old 

 associations in our Canadian Holly, and so it is less cared for on 

 that account. The bush — for it never rises in this country to any 

 height — is from eight to ten feet high ; it is mostly found in damp 

 swampy soil or on the banks of streams and beaver meadows, partaking 

 of the habits of the Alder, which it resembles in its love of moisture. 



The leaves are ovate, somewhat narrowed at the base, serrate at 

 the edges, thin, and not spiny, rather downy underneath ; the branches 

 and branchlets dark coloured ; flowers greenish, on very short stalks 

 clustered in the axils of the leaves ; the bush stiff and upright ; leaves 

 deciduous ; berries bright red, remaining on the branches through the 

 winter ; much sought for by the Wild Pigeon and Canadian Partridge. 



There is another species of the same order known as the 

 Mountain Holly — Nentopantlies Canadensis, (I). C.) 



which is found northwards in cold bogs. Early in May, the swamps 

 where this shrub abounds, have a warm reddish-brown hue from the 

 colour of the young leaves, this soon turns to a delicate green, which 

 again changes as it gets mature to a bluish glaucous green, the rose- 

 coloured berries are gracefully borne on long pedicels and are some" 

 times in great profusion, when they present a beautiful effect. The berries 



