THE HOLLY. 11 



yellow or white ; and in one variety, called the hedgehog 

 holly, not only are the edges of the leaf armed with spines, 

 but its entire upper surface. The holly-tree is not only 

 very ornamental but very useful. Perhaps its most prac- 

 tical service is the making of grand hedges, evergreen and 

 impenetrable ; but, though a most durable fence when once 

 established, the great drawback to its use is the slowness of 

 its growth. Evelyn, in his " Sylva/' thus breaks out into 

 admiration of its combined utility and beauty : " Is there," 

 he exclaims, " under heaven a more glorious and refresh- 

 ing object than such an impenetrable hedge, glittering with 

 its armed and varnished leaves and blushing with natural 

 coral ? " and he had good cause in his own experience for his 

 fervent praise, for one of the sights of his own garden at 

 Sayes Court was a holly hedge four hundred feet long, nine 

 feet high, and five feet broad. The ease with which such a 

 hedge can be kept trimmed, compared to privet, hawthorn, 

 or any other substitute, is another great point in its favour. 

 The wood of the holly, from the great evenness of the 

 grain, is very valuable to the carver and turner; it is 

 largely used in inlaying, making the blocks for calico- 

 printing, and many other purposes where its hardness and 

 toughness would prove of service. It is mentioned by 

 Spenser amongst the useful trees under the older name of 

 the holm. We find that it has given a name to several 

 villages near which it formerly abounded. Holmwood, 

 near Evelyn's house, in Surrey, is an illustration that at 

 once occurs to one. 



The bark of the holly, after a certain amount of 

 maceration, produces the viscid material called bird-lime. 

 Dr. Rousseau, in an essay on the use of holly 

 which was published in the "Transactions'" of one of 



