266 AUTUMN AND WINTER 



even after the inner veins and most of the lateral ribs have 

 disappeared ; and even after the leaves are two-thirds rotted, 

 they provide substantial nesting material for the thrushes and 

 blackbirds which so often build in hollies. The close clusters 

 of greenish-white flowers are usually almost overlooked amid 

 the profuse blossoms of early summer ; and we do not think 

 of the holly as a flowering shrub, as we probably should if it 

 blossomed in autumn, like the ivy, or very early in the year, 

 like the garden laurustinus. 



The holly is one of the most typically English of all our 

 trees, and deservedly holds the first place among the ever- 

 greens which we associate with Christmas-time. Though it 

 bears up well enough against our English winters, it does 

 not like the dry air and severe frosts of continental climates. 

 It is scarce in central Europe ; and its place in Christmas 

 festivities is taken in Germany by the silver fir, which has 

 exactly opposite tastes, and does not flourish very well when 

 planted in England, because of the dampness. In the forests 

 of the Jura mountains in Switzerland, which are chiefly com- 

 posed of beech, and have a characteristically English appear- 

 ance as compared with those of the Alps, the holly is one of 

 the rarer shrubs. Where it grows in the outskirts of a village, 

 it is sometimes chosen as an appropriate shelter for a way- 

 side crucifix ; for the people still remember the tradition, now 

 almost obsolete in England, that the Cross was made of holly 

 wood, and that the red berries represent the drops of blood. 

 But although the commonness of the tree in our own country 

 has contributed to the disappearance of this old belief, there 

 is still a marked distinction between the associations of the 

 holly and those of the mistletoe. Holly is felt to be in 

 keeping with Christmas on its sacred side ; while mistletoe 

 is more purely secular. This distinction is no mere modern 

 convention, but is a survival from very ancient times. The 



