THE HOLL Y. 461 



that the holly has not given way to its impetuosity. Indeed, keep 

 the roots of the holly clear of stagnant water, and you have little 

 more to do, for it forms its own defence j and, moreover, it has one 

 advantage over most other plants, namely, it can push its way suc- 

 cessfully up amid surrounding shade and pressure. Its lateral 

 branches, too, will take root, so soon as they come in contact with 

 the soft soil beneath them. 



If you place a young holly plant in a full grown hawthorn hedge, 

 it will vegetate in that incommodious site, and will manage, at last, 

 to raise its head aloft, and flourish clear of all opposition. Thus, 

 driven from his native home, perhaps through scarcity of wheat and 

 whisky, I have known a hardy son of Caledonia, although put in 

 a situation apparently hostile to advancement either in fame or in 

 fortune, maintain himself under fearful trials of adversity. In process 

 of time, his perseverance and honesty were crowned by complete 

 success. He took kindly to it, where you thought there would be 

 no chance of ever getting on ; but, by carefully watching his hour of 

 advance, in the death of this competitor or in the negligence of that, 

 this frugal, careful, steady emigrator from the North moved slowly 

 onwards, till, in due good time, he passed through, all surrounding 

 difficulties ; and having got at last into the full sunshine of good for- 

 tune, he there took the lead on the high road to long-expected 

 wealth and honours. 



He whose nerves would be affected at the sight of a straight holly 

 hedge, might prevent their irritation by forming a crescent; say a 

 segment of a circle to a radius of sixty yards. This would present a 

 fine appearance to the eye, whilst it shut out both the north-west 

 and the north-east winds of winter. Hollies, too, may be planted 

 in a clump, with very pleasing effect to the beholder. I consider a 

 regularly formed clump of hollies to be the perfection of beauty in 

 grouped arboreal design. One single tree of mountain-ash in the 

 centre of this would add another charm to it, and would be of use 

 to the ornithologist at the close of summer. When the holly trees 

 are in full bearing, and the berries ripe, we may roam a long while 

 through the whole extent of British botany, before we find a sight 

 more charming to the eye than the intermixture of bright-red and 

 green which this lovely plant produces 



