194 THE HOLLY. 



calico ; but I am not aware whether or not the suggestion 

 was acted on. M, Vergnaud has i^ublislied a pamphlet, in 

 which he proposes to convert the extracted starch into 

 sugar, and employ it in distillation. 



The Horse Chestnut will grow in most situations, biit 

 prefers a rich loamy soil. Here it grows Avith great 

 rapidity : Martyn mentions some raised from the nut, that, 

 at twelve or fourteen years of age, were covered with 

 flowers, and were big enough to shade several chairs with 

 their branches. A peculiarity of their growth, noticed by 

 Hunter, is, that as soon as the leading shoot is come out of 

 the bud, it continues to grow so fast as to be able to form 

 its whole summer's shoot in about three weeks or a month's 

 time. After this, it grows little more in length, but 

 thickens and becomes strong and woody, and forms the 

 buds for the next year's shoots. Owing to this rapid rate 

 of growth, its timber is soft, and unfit for any use where 

 strength and durability are required. It is said, however, 

 lo be suitable for water-pipes which are to he kept con- 

 stantly under ground. The bark, which is very bitter, is 

 employed for tanning, and also for dyeing yellow, and it 

 has been used medicinally as a substitute for Jesuits' bark. 



THE HOLLY. 



Ilex Aquifolium. 

 Natural Order — Ilicine.e. 

 CTrtss— Tethandria. Order — Tetragynia. 

 This " incomparable tree," as Evelyn most justly calls 

 it, is the most important of the English evergreens. 

 Whether we wander in the woods, when all is bare and 

 stark, save the trunks of trees, which are clothed Avith the 

 borrowed verdure of the Ivy, and save the dark but 

 cheerful array of armed leaves presented by the HoUy; or 

 whether, in the bright leafy days of summer, we detect it 



