48 THE WOODLANDS. 



years. Undoubtedly the holly will obtain a great 

 age and a considerable size. Withering mentions 

 large holly trees growing on the north of the Wrekin, 

 in Shropshire ; and trees sixty feet in height are said 

 to have grown near Frensham in Surrey. In the old 

 forests, as at Needwood, and the New Forest, as well 

 as in forests on the Dee and the Findhorn, in Scot- 

 land, holly abounds : in man) 7 instances the trees are 

 of considerable size. It is narrated in an old book 

 entitled " Paradise of Plants," that its author knew a 

 holly tree which grew in an orchard, and the owner 

 cut it down, caused it to be sawn into boards, and 

 made himself thereof a coffin, and, if I mistake not, 

 left enough to make his wife one also. Both the 

 parties were very corpulent, and therefore we may 

 imagine that the tree could not be small. 



The belief that the leaves of the holly are always 

 spiny below, and without spines on the upper branches, 

 is more poetical than true. 



The MOUNTAIN AsH, 1 sometimes called the 

 61 rowan," is a well-known, but small tree or shrub, 

 which is conspicuous by its bunches of bright red 

 berries in the autumn. The compound leaves are 

 not unlike those of the ash, but it is more nearly 

 related to the pear and apple-tree, although this 

 would hardly be suspected by any except the bota- 

 nist. Ancient poets state that the Amazons formed 

 their spears of this wood, by which they boldly de- 

 fended themselves against mortals. In Wales, Evelyn 

 observes that in his time it was reputed so sacred 



1 Pyrus aucuparia. 



