EVERGREEN, OR HOLM OAK. 301 



sea breeze, and we find that at TVizell, which is similarly 

 situated, its growth is tolerably rapid and promising. 

 In Cornwall it is planted extensively, not only for its 

 beanty as an evergreen, but as the best shelter upon the 

 coast for the common as well as the Mossy-cupped Oak, 

 and its endurance of the sea air is strongly exemplified by 

 the healthy appearance of those planted on St. Michael's 

 Mount. At Goodwood, near Chichester, there are many 

 Ilex's upwards of ten feet in circumference at three feet 

 from the ground. 



The Ilex thrives best on a deep dry soil, though it also 

 makes good progress in a stiffish loam, provided it be not 

 wet bottomed, which is always injurious to its large deep- 

 descending roots. It is propagated entirely by acorns, 

 which are procured from abroad, or, in fine seasons, from 

 trees in our own country, and the plants are either raised 

 in beds in the open air, or in pots ; we recommend the 

 latter method, as the young trees suffer no mutilation 

 of the root, and can at any time be turned out with a 

 certainty of success, whereas, when raised in the open 

 ground, they are, from the nature of their large, naked, 

 carrot-like roots, very difficult to transplant, unless gTeat 

 care has been taken to move them frequently in the nur- 

 sery, and thus force them to throw out lateral rootlets. 

 Some years ago, we succeeded with scarcely the loss of 

 a plant in transplanting a number of Holm Oaks raised 

 from English-grown acorns ; this was effected by nursing 

 them in a stiff loam, and checking the downward direction 

 of their roots by moving them every other year till finally 

 transplanted. The Ilex, when left to its natural growth 

 and fully exposed, is frequently furnished with branches 

 from the very ground, and acquires, as Loudon remarks, 

 the character of an immense bush, rather than that of a 



