114 MANURES FOR FRUIT TREES 



The holly is an extremely popular Christmas 

 evergreen, and commands a ready market through- 

 out the year, being used for making hedges to 

 surround gardens and estates. At Christmas-time 

 the holly springs into special prominence, and 

 thousands of pounds' worth of this red-berried 

 and silky-leafed tree are sent to the market to 

 decorate British homes, and altogether ove 

 £20,000 is spent by Britons on evergreens for 

 Yuletide, of which nearly two-thirds is paid for 

 holly. 



Holly comes from all parts of England and from 

 Holland and Germany ; and in addition to the 

 green holly, there are the gold and silver coloured 

 varieties which are much used for decorations in 

 churches and for artistic designs for the house. 



It may be mentioned, en passant, that the 

 Ilex paraguayensis is the Paraguay tea shrub 

 (Mat^) ; its leaves contain from 10 to 16 per cent, 

 of tannic acid, and from ^ to 1|- per cent, of 

 caffeine (theine) : and Hex verticillata is the 

 winter-berry or fever-bush of the United States of 

 America. 



Illicium {Illicium Anisatum, star anise tree, 

 Natural Order, Magnoliacese) is a greenhouse 

 flowering shrub, with evergreen leaves. Its habitat 

 is Japan and China, and was introduced into this 



