H 
eT ашин 
| Ho 
The 
= the Royal Horticultural Socie 
; MN 
i Carter's 
| (Awarded a First-class Certificat 
agreeable flavour.” 
— . A distinct sort, intermediate 
3 binis; with delicate and cris 
E EES m 
. Cabbage 
— 6lb,, the flavour 
. and ——— =. bea 
DECEMBER 25, 1875.] 
THE 
GARDENERS CHRONICLE. 
803 
Gorto 
— ee 
VEGETABLE AND FLORAL 
NU EUN for 1876, 
Caution.—/» future all Novelties 
sent out by JAMES CARTER & Co, 
Jor the first time will bear their 
Registered Trade Mark, 
—————— 
GRAND 
NEW PEA, 
"DR. MACLEAN” 
(TURNER.) 
Gardeners’ Chronicle, in - report of the Committee 
4, says 
m 
will sen nt х by 1 Mr. TURNER next 
a рве as, handsome and fa We 
of its merits. It will 
d highly 
| prove a useful addition to the sectien T which James’ Prolific is 
the type." 
a ‘Maclean, ‘whic 
— 
of H. д2, 
The lt a 
yin of Mn crop on the ground, sa 
i 
3 m in height, and Bar on this point we have tested of 
uality.” 
In the original packets. 
Per ra 75. 62. Per pint, as. 
We have secured a large stock of this valuable Pea 
direct from Mr. oae! Fu original introducer. 
Contes sa т Fern-Leaved Piriler; 
ted in Ameria: 
— eoalonur. la LA мы 
a eo per packet, 2s. > 
reen Gage Tom 
e by the + эн Horticultural 
ety, еса, 2 1874.) 
Octobe: 1875 :—‘ The 
distinct, dk. and highly 
Price, per packet, 2s. 6d. 
Heartwell Early Marrow Cabbage. 
A distinct and excellent m indispensable as an en 
e. The hearts are — firm, weighing from 
ly mild and | melting. 
rice, per packet, 1s. 6d. 
Jones Lettuce—American 
: , From the Gardeners’ Chronicle 
with a 
ксепепг, 
Gathering "o 
between th: Cabbage 
пея bes ed edged wi 
e, per packet, 1s. and 1 
’s “ Pedigree” Winds ay 
Hardy’s Pe RP Windsor Bean has been o at Chiswick, 
istinct Bean, intermediate алел (4 
"Windsor and the 
, rice, ` per quart, 2s. 
arter’s der-in. Pea. 
А fine green wrinkled Marrow of d mere with many 
p Peas in a pod. ight is у 
Price, fer quart, 3s. 6d. ; iris 
Bloxholm on. 
.. The finest and most delicious scarlet-fleshed Melon grown. 
j Price, pe ket, 25. ба. 
а Porter's celsior Potato. 
- "The finest exhibition Potato which has appeared ; the skin 
; straw — чй — and 3 of fine flavour. The Earliest 
FE . 8s. 6d. ; fer x4 l., 128. 6d. 
SIS WE Breadfruit Potato. 
For full descriptions of the above see 
ustrated Vade Mecum for 1876. 
Gratis to Post Free, xs. 
TRADE List NOW READY. 
=- CARTER'S 
's Seedsmen, 
& 238, оси. “HOLBORN, LONDON, W.C. 
become an importan 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1875. 
Phen a BERRIES. 
“ Let the b berries glow 
Everywhere i in goodly show 
ristus natus hodie.” 
F flowers, as we mentioned last week, are 
ful'st feast," 
would scarcely 
be Christmas without its accompaniments of 
Holly, Ivy, and Mistleto. And it is 
in a special way; for in no country is the 
Christmas festival. so generally and so heartily 
observed as it is among ourselves. There are 
people of a Scrooge-like turn of mind who affect 
to look. upon Christmastide as “ humbug,” and 
Christmas festivities as shams ; and yet—putting 
the religious side of the feast entirely out of the 
y i i many happy reunions and family 
ich only take place at this season 
he lie direct to such cynics, and show that 
dness is no poetical fiction but a 
rms 
common task” of the work-a-day world of 
this nineteenth century ; it is cheering 
to see from many little tokens that its observ- 
ance is on the increase upon us rather than on 
the decline. The item of Christmas cards alone, 
eems to be, is year by year assuming 
larger proportions, and must by this time X 
ranch of trade. Ther 
is really no limit to the variety which these 
little cards present, the conventional and im- 
possibly red-breasted robin, and the sprays of 
хеш. апі Mistleto, play quis secondary parts 
e аге selected—with dite appropriat 
as it seems to us—to convey the vier i er 
greetings appropriate to the season. The black 
which are in most demand this year are 
American importations, coming to us mainly 
from Boston ; and their nationality explains tie 
frequent occurrence upon them of the bark of 
the г paper birch (Betula | papyracea). 
1 
of trade it is curious to notice how the neighbour 
festival of “ Twelfth Day” has dropped alm 
entirely ia of notice; the iced. cakes aid 
* characters" which used. to decorate our pastry- 
cooks' трун are hardly seen— e are 
the ways of fashion. Christmas carols, again, 
have come into great prominence during the 
last twenty years. Previously to uc date 
the broadsides sold by itinerant vendors, and 
issuing: from Seven Dials, were almost the only 
representatives of this class of literature ; while 
now collections of Christmas carols may be 
counted by the dozen, and they have found their 
urches, where they often 
form an appropriate[?] and important feature 
in the Christmas services. The beautiful old 
story of the birth at th the attend- 
ant incidents nes angelic chorus, the * watch- 
ful sheph ings from the east, is 
an inexhausti i d theme for sofigs of this kind, 
which are none the less suitable or welcome on 
* | account of their simplici 
As to decorations, ачен ie church or m 
they become year by year 
elaborate ; although, so far as 5 the churches are 
modus wee differs in different cases, and 
ranges from the ^ чч aun it the don clerk 
and йозе: n NI | 
hended principle of thrusting а stem of Holly or 
Ivy into any hole which presents itself), to the 
elaborate wreathings and fl 
in every school of thought which takes note of 
Christmas Day, church decoration is looked on 
af a matter of course. There are not wanting 
clergy who inveigh against the custom as a relic 
of Paganism, or, at any rate, of Romanism ; but 
they can scarcely find it in their hearts to cast a 
gloom on the Christmas of their congregations 
by suppressing the display of evergreens. In 
the days of the i 
Margaret’s, Westminster, were fined for decorat- 
ing their church with Rosemary and Bays, and 
allowing preaching therein on New Year’s Day. 
Yet even if the custom of Christmas decorating 
be pagan in its origin there is no reason why 
it should not have been adopted by Christians, 
in accordance with the general and common- 
st Зы which нел ам соно 
of practices which in themse 
and jx vell beautiful. We see this анары 
to the requirements of the Ro 
а just м. the Established Church in this 
country has r many of th d 
customs of ie latter, in spite of the changes 
brought in at the Reformation. It is but the 
that there was no reason why the devil should 
have all the best tunes. 
he Holly finds a mention in many Christ- 
mas carols, both new and old, An instance of 
the latter is the familiar one оп the Harleian 
MSS., written in the reign of H VL, which 
is mainly in praise of the shrub d its 4 rrys 
as red as any йене. Even more quaint, and 
less generally n out Christmas books, is 
the traditional one which begins and ends with 
the verse— 
“The Holly and e 22 
Now both are n well grown ; 
Of all the trees that are in the w wood 
rnc 
and has for chorus to each verse the lines— 
** O the rising of the sun, 
he run: 
The sepia of the merry organ, 
S of the choir.” 
There is little doubt that the name of the tie 
is a corruption of holy, indeed it is so spelt by 
Turner and other of our early writers, and pro- 
bably owes its name to its employment at 
Christmas—a supposition which is borne out by 
the name Christdorn, by which it is known in 
Germany, as well as those. of Christorn, or 
Christtorn, by which it is called in Denmark 
and Sweden respectively. Among ourselves it 
is often called Christmas, and this reminds us 
gummiferum of New Sout 
named by the colonists Christmas tree, and 
employed by them in decorating their houses 
for "his festival. During. the last two or three 
years an addition has been e to our Christ- 
mas decorations in a shape of what is adver- 
tised as “ Wagga-Wagga Holly.” Tt will 
remembered that when Cuvier heard a lobster 
defined as “a scarlet fish that walks back- 
wards,” he said that the definition was perfectly 
correct, with three trifling exceptions :—Tst, it 
was not scarlet; 2d, it was not a fish; 3d, 
it did not walk backwards. We may adapt this 
witticism to the plant in question, inasmuch as 
it is not a Holly, and does not come from 
Wagga-Wagga. We must look nearer home 
