NOTES ON THE VARIETIES OF ENGLISH HOLLY. 209 



alludes to in his elegant poem " The Holly Tree," when he 

 says : 



" Below a circling fence its leaves are seen 



Wrinkled and keen, 

 No grazing cattle through their prickly round, 



Can reach to wound ; 



But as they grow where nothing is to fear, 

 Smooth and unarmed the pointless leaves appear." 



It may seem ungracious to throw a doubt on so charming 

 a fantasy, and my opportunities of observation have not 

 been sufficiently extended to allow me to speak decidedly, 

 but as far as I have observed, the evidence is not conclu- 

 sively in favour of Southey's view. 



Many exquisite pictures of Holly and Hawthorn 

 carelessly intertwined exist in Epping Forest, and they 

 are scarcely less lovely when the Hawthorn is in blossom 

 than when the Holly is in berry. The Holly hedges at 

 Tyninghame, in Scotland, planted about 1705 by Thomas, 

 sixth Earl of Haddington, have attained a world-wide 

 celebrity. They are 2952 yards in length, from 16 to 25 

 feet in height, and from 14 to 17 feet broad at the base. 

 Mr Lees, the intelligent gardener there, informs me that 

 they are clipped annually in April. The soil is a fine deep 

 yellow loam, resting on gravel. A clipped Holly hedge 

 near one of my nurseries here was once a source of attrac- 

 tion to every passer-by. Though now neglected, it 

 originally formed a dense, impenetrable fence, inaccessible 

 to birds, and impregnable to those boys to whom palings, 

 walls, and ordinary fences offer difficulties, tempting even 

 for the pleasure of overcoming them. 



The common green Holly is propagated by seeds 

 gathered at Christmas, stored in heaps, and sown in light 

 sandy soil the autumn following. The varieties do not 

 reproduce themselves true from seed, and are consequently 

 increased by cuttings, layers, budding, and grafting. From 

 a large sowing of the berries of variegated Holly once 

 made in these nurseries only one plant reproduced the 

 N 



