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OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



I LE 



743 





from his own observation, or only founded on Gerarde's, we 

 are at a loss to know. He has removed the Holly from the 

 class where Linneus and others have placed it, into the class 

 Polygamia, order Dioecia, where it certainly ought to be found, 

 according to the above observations. But it is judiciously 

 remarked by Dr. Stokes, that " before it is removed to 

 another class, it is proper to shew that the majority of the 

 other species are liable to similar sexual variations." This 

 beautiful tree deserves a place in all plantations of evergreens 

 and shrubs, where its shining leaves and scarlet berries 

 make a fine appearance; and, if a few of the best varie- 

 gated sorts be properly intermixed, they will enliven the 

 'scene. The Holly makes an impenetrable fence, and bears 

 cropping well ; nor is its verdure, or the beauty of its scarlet 

 berries, ever observed k> suffer from the severest of our 

 winters ; it would therefore form a better fence that the 

 Hawthorn, were it not for the slowness of its growth whilst 

 young, and the difficulty of transplanting it when grown to 

 a moderate size; but if it once take well, the hedge may be 

 rendered so close and thick, as to exclude all sorts of 

 animals. Evelyn's impregnable Holly hedge, four hundred 

 feet in length, nine feet high, and five thick, has been much 

 celebrated by himself, Mr. Ray, and others. Mr. Miller 

 says, that a Holly hedge should never be clipped with 

 shears, because, when the leaves are cut through the middle, 

 they are rendered unsightly ; and should therefore be cut 

 with a knife, close to a leaf; and although by this method 

 it is not shorn so even, it will have a much better appearance. 

 This may be done to ornament a garden hedge, but it is 

 obviously impracticable upon a large scale. The clipping a 

 Holly hedge should not be done later than July. The Holly 

 does best in cold stony lands ; prospers on gravel, over 

 chalk ; and refuses not, says Mr. Boutcher, the poorest, hot, 

 sandy, gravelly, and rocky ground, nor the coldest clay; 

 on which last, however, it has been observed to advance, 

 with a most discouraging slowness. Mr. Marshall relates, 

 ' that in the Wolds of Yorkshire, he has seen the Holly 

 raised, by the practice of a man who paid great attention 

 to the business of hedge-planting, with an unusual rapidity 

 and certainty ;" this man's secret would be of inestimable 

 value to the public, and perhaps our intelligent readers in 

 that part of the kingdom, may think it worth their while to 

 endeavour to discover and make it known. Forty or fifty 

 varieties, depending on the variegations of the leaves or 

 thorns, and the colour of the berries, all derived from this 

 one species, are raised by the nursery gardeners for sale, 

 and were formerly in very great esteem, but are now less 

 regarded, since the old taste of filling gardens with shorn 

 evergreens has been laid aside ; a few, however, of the 

 most lively varieties, would have a good effect in plantations 

 during the winter season, if properly disposed. The follow- 

 ing are the most beautiful varieties : Painted Lady ; British ; 

 Bradley's-best; Phyllis, or Cream; Milkmaid; Prichet's- 

 best; Cheyne's ; Glory of the West; Broderick's; Partridge's ; 

 Herefordshire white ; Blind's Cream ; Longstaff's ; Eales's ; 

 Gold-edged, and Silver-edged Hedge-hog Holly ; Chohole ; 

 Box-leaved Green ; Chimney-sweeper; Glory of the East; 

 Wife's; Gray's; Common-blotched ; Yellow-blotched Hedge- 

 hog ; Blotched Yellow-berried ; Mason's ; Copper-coloured ; 

 Sir Thomas Frankland's Britain ; Whitmill's ; Bradley's Long- 

 leaved ; Bradley's Yellow ; Bridgman's ; Well's ; Glass's ; 

 Bagshot; Brownrig's ; Lanton ; Aslet's; The Union; Ful- 

 ler's Cream ; Capel's Mottled ; and the White-berried. Of 

 all the varieties above enumerated, the Hedge-hog Holly is 

 the most remarkable. The leaves are not so long as those of 

 the common Holly, and have the edges armed with stronger 



thorns, standing close together, the upper surface set very 

 close with short prickles : as it retains its difference when 

 raised from berries, Mr. Miller insists that it is a distinct 

 species: he informs us that there are two varieties of it with 

 variegated leaves, one green and yellow, and the other green 

 and white. It grows naturally in Canada. The wood of the 

 Holly-tree, says Evelyn, is the whitest of all hard woods, 

 and is used by the inlayers, especially under thin plates of 

 ivory. The mill-wrights, turners, and engravers, prefer it to 

 any other; it makes the best handles and stocks for tools, 

 flails, riding-rods, and carters' whips, bowls, clivers, and pins 

 for blocks, and is also excellent for door bars and bolts ; it is 

 made even into hones for setting razors : and takes so fine a 

 polish, that it is very suitable for several kinds of furniture. 

 Mr. Miller mentions the floor of a room laid in compartments 

 of this wood, with mahogany, which had a very pretty effect. 

 It is much used with box, yew, and white-thorn, in the Tun- 

 bridge ware, and in veneering, and is sometimes stained 

 black to imitate ebony. Sheep are fed during winter with 

 the croppings ; birds eat the berries : and the bark fermented, 

 and afterwards washed from the woody fibres, makes the 

 common birdlime. The berries are of a warm carminative 

 nature, and good for relieving the colic ; they may be taken 

 to the number of twelve or fourteen at a time ; and as they 

 purge, often occasion a considerable evacuation of wind and 

 slime by stool. A decoction of the leaves in milk or ale, 

 produces the same effects, and is serviceable in pains and 

 weakness of the back. A person who was noted for his 

 success in the cure of rheumatic complaints, used no other 

 medicine than a decoction of the young buds or leaves of 

 this tree in water, which, after being strained, was sweetened 

 with coarse sugar, and given to the patient to drink, while 

 warm in bed, to the amount of half a pound weight of the 

 liquid, three or four times a day, till the pain was removed, 

 or at least alleviated ; it operated in all cases as a very 

 powerful sudorific ; and plenty of small diluting liquors were 

 ordered to be drank during the operation. Culpeper says, 

 " that the dry berries, pounded into powder, will stop fluxes, 

 bloody fluxes, and immoderate menstrual evacuations ; and 

 that the bark and leaves are excellent to foment broken 

 bones, or dislocated joints." This tree grows wild in many 

 parts of Europe, North America, Japan, and Cochin-china ; 

 and is found in woods and forests in many parts of England, 

 where it is called Hulver and Hulme, as well as Holly: the 

 Germans give it many names, such as Stechpalme, Christdorn, 

 Walddistel, &c. ; the Danes call it Stikpalme, Christtorn, &c.; 

 the Swedes Jernek, and Christtorn; the French, Le Houx, Le 

 Grand Housson, L'Agron, Grand Pardon, Bois Franc ; the 

 Italians, Ayrifoglio, Alloro Spinoso ; the Spaniards, Acebo, 

 Ar/rifolio; the Portuguese, Azevinho, Agrifolio, Aquifolio; and 



the Russians, Wassoscheld, Ostrokrof, and Padub. The 



Holly is propagated by seeds, which never come up the first 

 year, but lie in the ground like the Haws ; the berries there- 

 fore should be buried in the ground, in a large pot or tub, 

 one year, and then taken up in the autumn, and sown upon 

 a bed exposed only to the morning sun ; the following spring 

 the plants will appear, and must be kept clean from weeds ; 

 and if the spring should prove dry, it will be of great service 

 to the plants if they are watered once a week, but in small 

 quantities, for much moisture is very injurious to them when 

 young : in this seed-bed the plants may remain two years, 

 and then should be transplanted in the autumn, into beds 

 at about six inches' distance each way, where they may stand 

 two years longer, during which time they must be kept con- 

 stantly clean from weeds ; and, if the plants have thriven well, 

 they will be strong enough to transplant where they are intended 



