THE HOLLY* 



37 



shot nearly a foot in length, and that not one 

 of them has failed, let the summer have been 

 ever so dry* Small plants, bought in a nursery, 

 and placed in your own garden for a couple of 

 years, will be admirably adapted for the process 

 of transplanting. Had 1 been aware in early 

 life of this encouraging growth of the holly, it 

 should have formed all my fences in lieu of 

 hawthorn, which, after arriving at full ma- 

 turity, suddenly turns brown in summer, and 

 dies in a few weeks, without having given any 

 other previous notice of near approaching decay. 



Birds in general are not fond of holly berries ; 

 but many sorts will feed upon them when 

 driven by " necessity's supreme command." 

 Thus, during the time that the fields are clad 

 in snow, and the heps and the haws have al- 

 ready been consumed, then it is that the red- 

 wing, the blackbird, the fieldfare, and the 

 stormcock, numbed by the cold, and bold 

 through want of food, come to the berry-bearing 

 holly close to your house, and there too often 

 fall a prey to the gun of the designing fowler. 



In these days of phantom schemes and 

 national extravagance, when work is scarce and 

 penury fast increasing, the holly tree is doomed 



