4 FLORA HYEMALIS 



says he, ' there is a sort that bears them yellow,' and 

 makes no further mention of white berries. It is true 

 that both Loudon in his Arboretum and Koch in his 

 Dendrologie write about a white-berried variety ; but I 

 have never met anybody who has seen the same. Is it 

 possible that these high authorities yielded to the too 

 common practice of quoting the statements of earlier 

 writers without checking them by observation ? Surely 

 had a white-berried holly existed it would not have 

 escaped both the eagerness of nurserymen to secure 

 novelties and the exhaustive research of Messrs. Elwes 

 and Henry. Though it would be impossible to improve 

 on the normal scarlet fruit of the holly, yet is the 

 yellow-berried variety extremely to be prized, for the 

 hue is a rich gold, and the foliage is of a brighter green 

 than the other. 



As a rule, I cannot but think variegated foliage most 

 undesirable. Arising as it does from a deficiency in 

 chlorophyll corpuscles, the constituent which enables 

 the plant to assimilate carbonic acid, the yellow or 

 white streaks and patches which form the variegation 

 are really blemishes like the complexion of an ansernic 

 person. But one cannot dispense with the best 

 varieties of variegated holly Golden Queen and Silver 

 Queen their foliage being as luxuriant, their growth as 

 vigorous, as in the wild type. Where and when these 

 variegations originated none can tell, but they are of very 

 ancient date. 



Foresters and gardeners are not unanimous about 

 the proper season for clipping holly hedges. The finest 

 hedges known to me are those at Colinton House, 



