64 



THE HOLLY. 



never mature berries. This barrenness is occa- 

 sioned by an imperfection in the pistil, the 

 cause of which is unknown. 



The cultivated varieties of Holly are very 

 numerous; of these three are distinguished by 

 the unusual colour of their berries, yellow, black, 

 and white ; the rest are characterized by their vari- 

 egated foliage, or by the presence of a larger 

 number of prickles than ordinary. Of later years 

 more attention has been paid to the discovery of 

 new species of trees than to the cultivation of new 

 varieties, in consequence of which many of the 

 sorts mentioned by old authors are now extinct. 

 Of all variegated trees, the Holly is the most 

 pleasing, the yellow tint of its foliage being 

 generally of a bright decided tone, and therefore 

 not suggestive of disease, an idea which is asso- 

 ciated with most other trees which have their 

 leaves blotched with yellow. In winter, when 

 flowers are scarce, the garden and shrubbery are 

 much indebted to the more showy varieties for 

 the double contrast afforded by their leaves and 

 berries. They are propagated by grafting on the 

 common sort, and attain an equal size. Hayes 

 mentions one at Ballygannon in Ireland twenty- 

 eight feet high, with a trunk five feet in circum- 

 ference ; at Enys in Cornwall is another, the 

 stem of which is three feet and a half in circum- 

 ference, and fifty-nine feet high. This last is 

 associated with other slow-growing trees; hence 

 it has been drawn up to this unusual height. 



The uses of the Holly in its natural state are 

 scarcely worth notice. Deer will eat the leaves in 

 winter, and sheep thrive on them. The berries 

 are violently emetic ; but a decoction of the 



