ON TREES AND SHRUBS. 



437 



its wealth of cheerful coloured berries, is equally pleasing, and 

 effective, too. 



With regard to the best time for transplanting Hollies, a point 

 about which many cultivators differ, it may be taken for 

 granted that the operation may be successfully carried out 

 between early autumn and late spring, provided the ground 

 is in a suitable condition to receive them. Moist weather 

 should be chosen for the purpose, and care should be exer- 

 cised in lifting them to have a good ball of soil to the 

 roots, and if the weather is dry, to water freely overhead and at 

 the roots immediately after planting ; if the atmosphere 

 should continue dry, and strong winds prevail, the plants 

 should be watered overhead every other day or so. Early 

 autumn is perhaps preferable to spring, as the roots become 

 established in the fresh soil before winter, and are enabled to 

 commence growth in the following spring without feeling any ill 

 effects. 



The importance of frequently transplanting Hollies in a young 

 state cannot be over-estimated, as they are encouraged to make 

 large quantities of fibrous roots, which are of great value in after 

 years, especially if large trees have outgrown their positions, and 

 it becomes necessary to transfer them elsewhere. Hollies are 

 amenable to many forms of culture, and beautiful in whatever 

 form they are grown, the standard, bush, pyramid, and weeping 

 forms fitting them for a variety of positions in both the garden and 

 the pleasure-ground. They can be propagated by seeds, cuttings, 

 layering, budding, and grafting. The type is raised from seed, 

 which should be gathered as soon as ripe, and mixed with sand, 

 placed in a heap, and kept there until spring or the following 

 autumn. The heap should be turned over every fourth or fifth 

 week, and at the sowing time the seed should be separated 

 from the sand, and sown either in slightly-raised beds 4ft. 

 broad, or in drills, and covered with fine soil. In about two 

 years from the time of sowing, the seedlings will be large enough 

 for transplanting in nursery rows. 



The variegated forms are generally increased by budding in 

 summer, and by grafting in spring ; but this method is not 

 altogether necessary, or even advisable, as cuttings root freely 

 if young, well-ripened pieces of the current year's growth are 

 taken off in August and inserted in a sandy bed on a sheltered 

 border, and covered with handlights or frames. They should 

 be kept moist, very little air admitted, and, of course, shaded 

 from the sun until roots have been emitted. The weeping 

 varieties are worked on the green-leaved form. In addition to 

 those referred to at page 459, the following represent the cream 

 of the various groups : 



Green-leaved : /. dipyre?ia is quite hardy, and uncommon in 

 this country. It grows freely, and forms a much-branched tree 



