Decewnen 26, 1874] THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE, 2% 
| m MOST IMPORTANT PRIZE 
c GARDENERS, | “GENTLEMEN, 
l È AMATEURS, and OTHERS, 
F During the year 1875, is 
| THE CARTER CUP, 
VALUE EISENI GUINEAS 
` {Which is to bec _absolute Property of 
ial S 
Society, under the following ditions 
FIRS erp tab “CARTER CUP,” Value FIFTY 
GUINEAS, to become the absolute property of the 
Employer to Saian E he Prize Smg be awarded 
also Ten Guineas f 
SECOND r 
PRIZE—Five Guineas. 
_ FOURTH ee Guineas. 
Best Collection of f Vegetables, 24 Dishes, 
aiaia ten 
» : -l : 
> 3% ,„ Carters White / 
' i Champion Runner Beans. 
ei er Pea. 
: p Carter Dg panas tg peed Pea. 
Carter’ ’s New Mammoth Long Pod Bean. 
í *Carter “sbi Fern- kaved Parsley, and Little Heath 
> Qrioz t to the difficulty that would be ienced in gettin: 
this o perfection in time for the te on trae 
would be eligible. 
es :—Of Peas, 
s, 12; Melons or Te tany ai te race ; Beet, 3 ta erw 
i Celery: 33 Broad Beans, 18 
pods. 
ie ll don Shows 
the Royal a Honienitural ie fee oie year a JAMES 
co, 
iy. aire in Winter and Spring. 
ers irah Guinea Collection of Bulbs 
so Winter Aconites 
25 Exi na Fine Persian Ranun- 
2 = Extra ns Anemones 
xtra Fine  Fritillarias, 
mixed 
12 Blue Bills 
PACKING AN 
COLLECTIONS, price ros- "hy 4an Čat and Be 
how of the "Royal 2 der iieniinr al : 
assistance to 
of outdoo 
those whose 
such luxuries ; 
brighten the 
which bears 
the tree as a 
originated it 
into our own 
among whom 
was a tree of 
reign, when th 
received an ad 
Caroline, bya 
ments.” Our 
Oranges and 
stantial gifts. - 
phate 
wht 
an pi idare of a Christmas 
it may, there is no doubt that its s introduction 
connected wit 
the earliest preachers of Christianity among 
them, and who is reported to have slept under a 
Fir tree. Hall, the historian, in the following 
passage, appears to indicate that something of 
the kind was presented before Henry VIII. 
at Richmond. “There was,’ he says, “a 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1874. 
PESE TES 
CHRISTMAS TREES. 
INTER having now set in in good 
earnest, and outdoor son at being aad 
much at a-standstill, it beho of 
are horticulturally inclined ts set our nition 
to indoor plants, and to endeavour by their 
solace ourselves for the absence 
flowers. ~ Heaths, Poinsettias, 
Phas, and the like are readily obtainable by 
purses allow them to indulge in 
and the Christmas evergreens 
“hearth and hall” of humbler 
homes, to which winter flowers must remain 
strangers. But there is one tree above all others 
that is popular at this time of year with the 
juvenile members of the family—a tree, indeed, 
of comparatively recent introduction, but one 
most ample and most various fruit, 
which it would puzzle the most learned of sys- 
tematic botanists to classify, although in its 
absence he would probably be able to identify 
member of the order Coniferz. 
This tree is known to great and small as the 
Christmas Tree par excellence. 
When, where, and how the Christmas Tree 
is not easy to ascertain. It has 
been suggested by some that it took its origin 
from the Roman Saturnalia, and in Smith’s 
arsan d a omens and Gredi ri bate 
country is due to the Germans, 
it is in some way supposed to be 
h S. Maternus, who was one of 
a mountayne, glisteninge 
t devi 
by night as though it had bene all of golde and 
set with stones, on the top of which mountayne 
golde, the brannches and bowes 
frysed with golde, spreadynge on every side 
over the mountayne with Roses and Pome- 
garnettes.” 
“tree of golde” was adjunct of the 
rather an 
“ pageant” than of individual importance ; 
it would appear that it was not until the present 
e introduction of German customs 
ditional impetus from the lamented 
Prince Consort, that Christmas trees became at 
all generally known. Sucha tree, however, was 
made for a juvenile party in the reign of Queen 
German of her household. “ The 
ened 
f a farmhouse, surrounded by 
¢ gilt oranges, almonds, &c. ; and under it was 
vast mod 
Fans of animals, &c., and all due accompani- 
modern Christmas Tree, like its 
German original, bears on its branches not y 
Apples, but more varied and su 
Coleridge ha 
se not 
know ans Andersen’s te 
TE Fir Tree? Whether our pe E 
“Tree is ar 
Be this - 
clear, but we are told that in the Hartz district 
the maidens dance and sing “most heathenish 
songs” round the Fir-tree, which is adorned 
with painted eggs, &c. ; while in Voigtland it is 
said that the lights on the Christmas Tree must 
be of an even number, and it is also said in some 
places that the shadows cast by these-lights, of 
persons who will die rie the coming year, 
will appear without hea 
Another Christmas Tree which may fairly 
claim notice upon the present occasion, is the 
far-famed “Glastonbury Thorn,” which, tradition 
tells us, sprang from the wan nd of S. Joseph of 
Arimathza, who planted Christianity in England, 
and “built with wattles from the marsha little 
lovely church in days of yore.” ‘When the 
tradition that 
‘ the winter Thorn 
Blossoms at Christie, mindful of our Lord,” 
first arose, it is not easy to ascertain, but it is 
one of considerable antiquity, and lasted long 
of styling “the dark ages.” The fame of this 
Thorn extended to foreign lands, and slips or 
pieces of it were valued articles of export. 
Visits were made to it at be as recently 
as the beginning of the last century ; and Queen 
Anne, in common with many nobility of that 
atei purchased slips of the tree at a high 
pri The original tree remained until thie 
sa of Charles I., when it was cut down by a 
Puritan ; one of itè trunks had already been 
destroyed in the time of Elizabeth. A slip was, 
however, secured; and two old Hawthorns, 
purporting to be descendants, are still to be 
seen near the old Abbey at Glastonbury. 
It seems almost incredible that such a circum- 
stance as the blossoming of a Thorn should 
eS 
-a Gentleman s Magazine, referring to Christ- 
the 
Eve, 1753. It will be 1 canine that 
pares 
which took 
with ‘considerable opposition ; ahd the Glaston- 
shire, above two people wen 
lanterns and candles, to view a Blacktbora ið 
in that neighbourhood, and which was remem 
bered to be a slip from the famous Glastonbury 
Thorn, and that it always budded on the 24th, 
was full blown the next day, and went all off at 
night. The people, finding no appearance of a 
bud, it was agre:d by all that December 25 
(new style) could not be the right Christmas 
Day, and red refused going to Church, 
the ‘neighbouring vi , in order 
to a thought it pinde to give 
nates ga the fhe Od Christmas Diy, should be 
kept holy as before.” 
The Glastonbury Thorni is g know to basar 
turists as Cratægus Oxyacantha prÆæcox ; 
p i 
the blossoms seldom fully expand. 
Another tree, which was believed to be sacred 
to Old Christmas Day, was the Cadenham Oak, 
in the New Forest, which for more than two 
hundred years was supposed to bud only on 
that day. From a contemporary account, it 
appears that the sapient Kag James I. “ could 
not be ae ed to believe” in this marvellous 
