368 THE MISTLETOE IN HEREFORDSHIRE. 
when young and strong on one side, and those that resist it when weak 
pes old, on the other, there seems a promising field for careful observa- 
on. Whoever may enter it, to find the secret of the requirements for 
Mobi life, or Mistletoe predilections, will have in the first place to 
master the confusion that prevails amongst the Apple-trees themselves, 
and the ignorance of their owners, as to their right names and virtues 
and sorts and kinds, always excepting, however, the knowledge of the 
quality of the cider they will make. 
Next to the Apple-tree, the Mistletoe likes best the Poplars, in par- 
ticular the Black Italian, Canadian, and Ontario. Here its luxuriant 
branches thrust themselves into notice, as well by their contrast to the 
tree itself, as by their lofty situation. These trees are now much 
planted, and no sooner do they attain any size, than a number of them 
become inhabited by the Mistletoe. In the central parts of the county 
the proportion of trees which bear the Viscum may be said to vary 
from 10 to 30 per cent., according to the age and position of the trees ; 
but in some districts, and in some isolated groups of trees, they pro- 
bably reach a still higher average. On the upright Lombardy Poplar 
(Populus fastigiata), on the contrary, there is no recorded instance of 
its growth in this county, nor in England, although examples have been 
found on the Continent. On the Hawthorn the growth of Mistletoe 
is widely extended, though it is much more common in some districts 
than in others. Mr. Edwin Lees has observed the Mistletoe to grow 
on Thorns, in lines extending across the country, which he accounts 
for by the long-observed fact, of the Fieldfares and Thrushes flying 
across the country in direct lines. Thorns within the line are nume- 
rously affected, whilst the Oaks and such uncongenial trees seem passed 
over, and the Thorns out of this line are also comparatively free. On 
the Lime-tree, the “Maple, the White-flowering Acacia, and the Moun- - 
tain Ash, the Mistletoe is not uncommonly observed,—considering the 
number of trees, the Maple does not seem to bear Mistletoe so fre- 
quently here as in some other districts; but the Mountain Ash seems 
a favourite site for it, though this tree is not very common in the 
county. It is singular that its growth on the Pear-tree should be so 
uncommon. In many works of reference this tree is placed next to the 
Apple as a Mistletoe-bearing tree, but in this county it is extremely 
rare to find it. Mixed up together so commonly as these trees are 
here, the absence of the Mistletoe upon it is very marked. After ex- 
