DAYS OF THE EVERGREEN 277 



Surrey Downs, some thickets in Chequers Park in the 

 Chiltern Hills, and a wood at Boxwell in the Gloucester- 

 shire Cotswolds. Its glossy foliage is distinctly lighter than 

 that of the holly and most other evergreens ; and the verdure 

 of a clump of boxes is doubly cheerful on grey winter days, 

 when the turf is clouded with rime. Furze and broom are as 

 common as the box is rare ; and the furze more than redeems 



BUTCHER'S BROOM 



the sombreness of its needles in midwinter by its occasional 

 gleams of bloom. The butcher's broom, or knee-holly, is a 

 curious little evergreen bush which, like many of the scarcer 

 shrubs, is most frequently found on a chalk soil. Its stiff, 

 sharp-pointed leaves add rather to the interest than to the 

 colour of the woods where it grows, for its green is dull and 

 uniform ; and though it has brilliant scarlet berries springing 

 curiously from the middle of the leaves, they are seldom 

 numerous enough to make any show. Butchers formerly 

 used its stiff sprays for sweeping their blocks ; while its 



