26 



happy reference to it in the poem of which one 

 verse has already been quoted : — 



" Below, a circling fence, its leaves are seen 

 Wrinkled and keen ; 

 No grazing cattle through their prickly round 



Can reach to wound, 

 But as they grow where nothing is to fear. 

 Smooth and unarmed the pointless leaves appear." 



The white fiowers of the holl}-, which are not 

 conspicuous, appear in May and June. The wood 

 is white, hard, and even-grained. When once 

 estabUshed, holly makes a grand hedge, and not 

 being a prey to insefts, its leaves are not disfigured. 

 The only drawback to its use for this purpose is 

 its slow growth ; but the holly is hardy and of 

 great duration. The length of a tree's life, it may 

 be said, is almost invariably proportionate to the 

 rate of its growth. 



Although the holl}' as a rule is not much more 

 than a shrub, it will on a genial soil, and given 

 room, grow to a tree of some thirty feet. It is 

 a dioecious plant, only yielding one sex on an 

 individual tree. Indigenous to Great Britain, it is 

 also a native of Europe and Western Asia. 



The holly is believed to have been a popular 

 emblem of good wishes from an earl)' period. 

 During the festival of the Saturnalia, held by the 

 old Italian husbandmen in commemoration of 

 the ingathering of the harvest, the holly was the 



