54 



THE HOLLY. 



given the name of Holme Chase to a beautiful part 

 of Dartmoor, where it abounds. Evelyn says that 

 the vale near his house, Wotton in Surrey, was 

 anciently called Holmsdale, for the same reason. 



Pliny describes the Holly under the names of 

 Aquifolium and Aquifolia, that is, needle-leaf, 

 and adds, that it was the same with the tree 

 called, by Theophrastus, Crataegus, a statement 

 which the commentators pronounce erroneous, 

 the Greek name for the Holly being Agria. He 

 says also, that if planted in a house or farm, it 

 repels poison, and that its flowers cause water 

 to freeze. A stafi* of its wood, he adds, if thrown 

 at any animal, even if it fall short of the mark, 

 has the wonderful property of compelling such 

 animal to return and lie down by it. 



Phillips, in his Sylvajiorifera, professes to quote 

 from Pliny a description of certain ancient Holhes 

 which stood near the city of Tibur, in Italy: but 

 his version of the passage is erroneous, for the 

 tree mentioned is the Ilex or Evergreen Oak, and 

 not the Holly. Loudon, following Phillips, falls 

 into the same mistake; and, strangely enough, in 

 another part of his Arboretum describes the same 

 trees again, bearing their right name. 



The Holly is a native of most of the central 

 and southern parts of Europe, but is said no- 

 where to attain so great a size as in Great Britain, 

 where it sometimes ranks as a second-rate forest 

 tree. As it grows very slowly, if it w^ere im- 

 patient of the drip of other trees we should 

 never see it in our woods ; but the Divine Power 

 which fixed its rate of growth, ordained at the 

 same time that it should thrive best under the 

 shade of its lofty companions. Hence we fre- 



