The Holly. 121 



out both the north-west and the north-east winds of winter. 

 Hollies, too, may be planted in a clump, with very pleasing 

 effect to the beholder. I consider a regularly formed clump of 

 hollies to be the perfection of beauty, in grouped arboreal 

 design. One single tree of mountain ash in the centre of this 

 would add another charm to it, and would be of use to the 

 ornithologist at the close of summer. Wlien the holly trees 

 are in full bearing, and the berries ripe, we may roam a long 

 while through the whole extent of British botany, before we 

 find a sight more charming to the eye than the intermixture of 

 bright red and green which this lovely plant produces. 



• I have a fine circular clump of hollies here, under which the 

 pheasants are fed; and to which, throughout the whole of the 

 winter, a vast number of sparrows, green linnets, buntings, 

 blackbirds, and some starlings resort, to take their nocturnal 

 repose in peace and quiet. The holly sheds a large proportion 

 of its leaves after the summer has set in. These remain on the 

 ground in thick profusion. So formidable are their hard and 

 pointed spikes to the feet of prowling quadrupeds, that neither 

 the cat, nor the weasel, nor the foumart, nor the fox, nor even the 

 ever-hungry Hanoverian rat, dare invade the well-defended terri- 

 tory. Hence the birds, which in yew trees and in ivy would 

 be exposed to inevitable destruction from the attacks of these 

 merciless foes, are safe from danger in the holly bush. 



People generally imagine that the holly is of tardy growth. 

 It may be so in ordinary cases ; but means may be adopted to 

 make this plant increase with such effect as to repay us amply 

 for all our extra labour and expense. Thus, let us dig the 

 ground to a full yard in depth, and plant the hollies during the 

 last week of May, taking care to puddle their roots well into the 

 pulverised soil. We shall find, by the end of September, that 

 many of the plants will have shot nearly a foot in length, and 

 that not one of them has failed, let the summer have been ever so 

 dry. Small plants, bought in a nursery, and placed in your own 

 garden for a couple of years, will be admirably adapted for the 

 process of transplanting. Had I been aware in early life of this 

 encouraging growth of the holly, it should have formed all my 

 fences in lieu of hawthorn, which, after arriving at full matu- 

 rity, suddenly turns brown in summer, and dies in a few weeks, 

 without having given any other j^revious notice of near approach- 

 ing decay. 



Birds in general are not fond of holly berries ; but many 

 sorts will feed upon them when driven by " necessity's supreme 

 command." Thus, during the time that the fields are clad in 

 snow, and the heps and the haws have already been consumed, 

 then it is that the redwing, the blackbird, the fieldfare, and the 

 stormcock, numbed by the cold, and bold through want of 

 food, come to the berry-bearing holly close to your house. 



