132 Gilpin's toeest soenbet. 



But we could, wisli to recommend it not in a 

 hedge but in a forest, where, mixed with Oak or 

 Ash, or other trees of the wood, it contributes to 

 form the most beautiful scenes, blending itself 

 with the trunks and skeletons of the winter, or 

 with the varied greens of summer. But in its 

 combined state we shall have occasion hereafter 

 to mention it. At present we shall only observe 

 that, as far as an individual bush can be beautiful, 

 the Holly is extremely so. It has, besides, to 

 recommend it, that it is among the hardiest and 

 stoutest plants of English growth. It thrives in 

 all soils and situations. At Dungeness, in Kent, 

 I have heard, it flourishes even among the pebbles 

 of the beach. 



Oar British Holly {Ilex aquifolium) can fally claim the 

 honour of being called a tree, though, ordinarily, it is seen 

 only as a shrub. Some of the finest examples of its tree 

 growths are to be found in the New Porest. But what 

 are now trees in that beautiful woodland were probably 

 shrubs only in Gilpin's time. Specimens with trunks 

 from three to five feet in circumference are plentful, and 

 we recently saw and measured one Holly near Lyndhurst 

 with a girth near the ground of nine feet ! We heartily 

 agree with Gilpin, in his admiration of the beauty of Ilea; 



