124 



THE HOLLY. 



nearly put them out of our recollections. Some 

 people gather it in the week before Christ- 

 mas^ to decorate churches and houses : vast 

 quantities of this beautiful tree are thus con- 

 sumed every year. 



This tree grows in almost all climates, 

 warm and cold, in most countries of Europe, 

 and in many of Asia and America. It grows 

 slowly, and therefore is not so much used in 

 hedge-rows as its strength and the defence it 

 affords would entitle it to be. When uninter- 

 rupted in its growth, it attains a considerable 

 altitude and bulk. Hollies of thirty, forty, and 

 even sixty feet in height are to be met with, 

 in many parts of England, with clear trunks of 

 proportionable girth." 



