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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



supernatural qualities attributed to it. Its 

 flowers were said to cause water to freeze; it 

 was believed to repel lightning, and therefore 

 the Romans planted it near their houses ; and 

 the story ran that a branch of holly thrown 

 after any stubborn animal, even though _ it 

 missed him, would serve to subdue him in- 

 stantly and cause him to lie down meekly be- 

 side the stick. Some friends of the holly have 

 suggested that the notion of the Italian peasant 

 that the cattle kneel in their stalls at midnight 

 on the anniversary of Jesus' birth grows out 

 of the survival of the old pagan legend of the 

 effect of the holly upon domestic animals. 



In parts of England it is deemed unlucky to 

 introduce the holly into the house before 

 Christmas eve. In some sections the prickly 

 leaf and the non-prickly leaf species are desig- 

 nated as "she" and "he" holly, and the belief is 

 that, according as the holly brought at Christ- 

 mas is smooth or rough, the wife or the hus- 

 band will be master of the household for the 

 ensuing twelve months. 



The European relative of the American holly 

 has a leaf more spmy and a berry of a deeper 

 red than our own, but it is too tender to with- 

 stand the rigorous winter of the North or the 

 hot summers of the South. 



VIRGINIA or SCARLET STRAWBERRY 

 (Fragaria virginiana Duchesne) 



(See page 498) 



Who has not gone out into the shady open 

 vi'oodlands and gathered wild strawberries, as 

 toothsome as they are beautiful, has missed 

 one of the charming experiences of life in the 

 country. Its white, loosely clustered flowers ; 

 its broad, oval, saw-edged green leaflets, and 

 its glistening red berries make a combination 

 that delights the eye of the most unsentimen- 

 tal. "Doubtless God could have made a better 

 berry, but doubtless He never did," declared 

 the patient fisherman, Izaak Walton, who was 

 also a connoisseur of things to eat. And who- 

 ever has tasted a strawberry that represents 

 the last word of the plant breeders' art, and 

 then the strawberry of the open woodland, 

 will agree that cultivation has added nothing 

 to flavor, however much it has added to size. 

 The Duke of Gloucester, who became Richard 

 III, had a weakness for the wild strawberry. 

 It is said that in 1483, as certain great lords 

 were sitting in counsel arranging for his coro- 

 nation, the duke came in and, "saluting cour- 

 teouslie, said to the Bishop of Ely: 'My lord, 

 you have verie good strawberries in your gar- 

 den in Holbonne ; I require you to let me have 

 a mese of them.' " 



It is said that during the reign of Henry 

 VIII the price of strawberries was eight cents 

 a bushel. 



The favorite haunts of the Virginia straw- 

 berry are in dry fields, along roadsides, and in 

 open woodlands. It flourishes from Nova 

 Scotia to the Gulf of Mexico and has secured 

 a foothold as far west as the Dakotas. 



The berry of the strawberry is a false fruit. 



It is the tiny pincushion-like receptacle of the 

 strawberry flower that fleshens and reddens 

 into the fruit. 



The strawberry sends out many children in 

 the shape of runners. These tiny runners take 

 root in the ground, and as soon as they get a 

 firm foothold, the connecting stem promptly 

 wilts and the baby strawberry plant is set loose 

 to fight its own battle in the world. How pro- 

 lific this strawberry plant may be is strikingly 

 shown by an experiment made some j'ears ago. 

 One plant in three years developed 200 plants, 

 which covered more than seventy times as 

 much ground as the progenitor of the family. 



Many people regard the strawberry as the 

 most healthful of fruits. It was the firm con- 

 viction of L/innseus that they cured his gout, 

 while others have found them beneficial in 

 fevers and bilious disorders. They are said to 

 have a very excellent effect upon the teeth, 

 dissolving the tartar that gathers upon them. 



WILD YELLOW LILY OR CANADA 

 LILY (Lilium canadense L) 



(See page 499) 



The boundaries of the wild yellow lily's 

 American domain reach from Nova Scotia on 

 the north to Georgia on the south and the 

 western half of the Mississippi Valley on the 

 west. It flowers in June and July and most 

 often is found in low meadows, although it 

 thrives in swamps and fields to some extent. 



With its pendulous, brown-dotted, buff-yel- 

 low blossom hanging so as to protect its nectar 

 from the rain, the yellow lily is a favorite 

 friend of the wild honey-bee and the leaf-cut- 

 ting bee, which visit the flower to gather its 

 brown pollen as well as to sip its nectar. 



When the Master, in His magnificent Sermon 

 on the Mount, bade the world to "consider the 

 lilies of the field," He did not refer to the 

 lilies we know, but how well does His injunc- 

 tion fit ; for what richer lessons can we gain 

 from nature than by studying the life, form, 

 and behavior of the lilies that render such 

 helpful aid in lending enchantment to the sum- 

 mer by their beautiful nodding bells, which 

 seem to toll the hours of flowerland ! Less 

 gorgeous, it is true, than its beautiful sister, 

 the Turk's cap, the wild yellow lily still justi- 

 fies the inspired verdict that Solomon in all 

 his glory was not arrayed as it. Some have 

 called the bell-like flowers of the yellow lily 

 "fairy caps," while others have called them 

 "witch caps." But whether the fairies or 

 whether the witches adorn themselves in such 

 dainty headgear, we know that the bee often 

 uses the flower for a "shelter in the time of 

 storm." Some one has said that the form of 

 the lily stock and flower suggest an exquisite 

 design for a church candelabra. 



Among all races and in all ages the lily lias 

 been a favorite of man. In both tradition and 

 in legend it has played its role. The tomb o£ 

 the Virgin was filled with lilies to allay the 

 doubts of the ever-doubting Thomas. The 

 Greeks and Romans considered the lily a sym- 



