512 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 
Henry VI., and preserved in the Harleian MS., No. 5396.; in illustration 
of which it must be observed, that the ivy, being dedicated to Bacchus, was 
used as a vintner’s sign in winter, and hung outside the door. 
** Nay, Ivy, nay, it shall not be I wys; 
Let Holy hafe the maystry, as the maner ys. 
Holy stond in the halle, fayre to behold ; 
Ivy stond without the dore ; she ys full sore a cold. 
“ Holy and hys mery men they dawnsyn and they syng, 
Ivy and hur maydenys they wepyn and they wryng. 
Ivy hath a lybe; she laghtit with the cold, 
So mot they all hafe that wyth Ivy hold. 
“* Holy hath berys as red as any Rose, 
‘They foster the hunters, kepe hem from the doo. 
Ivy hath berys as black as any slo; 
Ther com the oule and ete hym as she goo, 
** Holy hath byrdys, aful fayre flok, 
The Nyghtyngale, the Poppyngy, the gaynty! Lavyrok. 
Good Ivy! what byrdys ast thou! 
Non but the Howlet that ‘ How! How!’” 
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 
crosses, &c., were decorated with holme (holly), ivy, and bayes, at Christmas. 
The disciples of Zoroaster believed that the sun never shadows the holly 
tree; and the followers of that philosopher who still remain in Persia and 
India, are said to throw water impregnated with holly bark in the face of a 
child newly born. In the language of flowers, the holly signifies foresight. A 
great number of curious carols, and other verses, ancient and modern, referring 
to the use of the holly at Christmas, will be found in Forster’s Perennial 
Calendar, p. '727.; and an elegant poem by Southey, alluding to the circum- 
stance of the lower leaves of large plants being spinous, while the upper are 
entire, is printed in Dr. Johnston’s Flora of Berwick upon Tweed, vol. 1. p. 40. 
Soil and Situation. The holly attains the largest size in a rich sandy loam; 
but it will grow, and even thrive, on almost any soil, provided it is not over- 
charged with moisture. Cook says, it does best on soil somewhat gravelly ; 
Miller, that it prospers on gravel over chalk; and Boutcher, that it refuses 
not almost any sort of barren ground, hot or cold, and often indicates where 
coals are to be found; a proof that it will grow both on lime and clay: in 
short, the holly is found on all soils, except in bogs or marshes. The forest 
of Needwood, which contains so many fine hollies, is on a free loamy soil, in- 
clining to sand rather than to stiff clay ; the largest hollies in the New Forest 
are on gravelly soil, on a substratum of chalk or clay. The largest hollies in 
Buckinghamshire, Kent, and Surrey, are in loam on chalk; the hollies at 
Tyningham are on deep alluvial sand; those in Aberdeenshire, on granitic 
clay. The holly does not grow at very great elevations in Europe; and it 
is always found in a most prosperous state when somewhat shaded by 
deciduous trees, but not overtopped by them. The most favourable situation 
seems to be a thin scattered wood of oaks, in the intervals of which, as at 
Needwood and New Forest, the holly grows up, at once sheltered, and par- 
tially shaded. At the same time, the holly will grow completely beneath the 
shade and drip of other trees; for which reason it is equalled as undergrowth 
by no other evergreen shrub or tree, except the box. The common laurel 
will also grow under the drip and shade of other trees ; but it is more tender 
than either the box or the holly, and soon becomes naked below. 
Propagation and Culture. In the days of Evelyn, it was customary for 
planters to collect seedlings of trees of different sorts from the woods; and 
this was more especially the case with the holly, on account of the length of 
time the seed lies in the ground before it comes up. “ Of this noble tree,’’ 
Evelyn says, “ one may take thousands of young plants, four inches long, out 
of the woods (growing amongst the fallen leaves), and so plant them ; but this 
should be before the cattle begin to crop them, especially sheep, who are 
greedy of them when tender. Stick them into the ground, in a moist season, 
