OF FOREST-TREES. 271 



Dcde never won ; ne, never shall. It had once a fort called Holmes-Dale cH. xxr. 

 Castle : I know not whether it might not be that of Rygate ; but leaving ^'^'V"^ 

 this uncertain, I return to the plant. I have often wondered at our 

 curiosity after foreign plants, and expensive difficulties to the neglect 



The Ilex is of the class and order Tetrandria Tetragynia. 



The manner of propagathig the Holly is nearly the same as the Yew ; only as the plants 

 never appear until the second springs instead of sowing the berries immediately, as was 

 directed for the Yew, they may be buried in the ground, then taken up, and sown the 

 autumn following. If the berries are sown as soon as they are gathered, they will un- 

 doubtedly come up the spring twelvemonth after ; and this would be the most eligible, as 

 well as the surest way of obtaining a crop, could we be certain of guarding them from mice 

 during so long a space of time ; for these animals, when once they find out the seeds, 

 will effectually destroy a whole seminary. If the planter is not averse to run this hazard, 

 the best method will be to sow the seeds soon after they are ripe. During the following 

 summer, the beds must be kept clean of weeds, and, if the season should prove dry, 

 it would assist the growth of the seeds to give them now and then a gentle watering. 

 These precautions being observed, the plants will come up in the second spring. 



In the seed-bed the plants should remain two years, after which they should, be trans- 

 planted in the autumn into beds properly prepared, at the distance of eight inches each 

 way. Here they may stand two years longer, during which time they must be constantly 

 kept clean from weeds ; and if the plants have thriven well, they will be strong enough 

 to transplant where they are designed to remain ; for when they are transplanted at that 

 age, there will be less danger of their falling, and they will gi-ow to a larger size than those 

 which are removed when they are much larger ; but if the ground is not ready to receive 

 them at that time, they should be transplanted into the nursery, in rows at two feet 

 distance, and one foot asunder in the rows, in which place the plants may remain two 

 yeai's longer ; and if they are designed to be grafted or budded with any of the variegated 

 kinds, the operation should be performed, after the plants are grown one year in the 

 nursery ; but the plants so budded or grafted should continue two years after in the 

 nursery, that they may make good shoots before they are removed ; though the plain ones 

 should not stand longer than two years in the nursery, because when they are older they 

 do not transplant so well. The best time for removing Hollies is early in the autumn, 

 especially in dry land ; but where the soil is cold or moist, they may be transplanted with, 

 great safety in the spring. 



The Holly is an excellent plant for hedges, and would claim the preference to the 

 Hawthorn, were it not for the slowness of its growth while young, and the difficulty 

 of transplanting it, when grown to a moderate size. It will grow best in cold, stony land, 

 where, if on ce it takes well, the hedges may be rendered so close and thick as to keep out 

 all sorts of animals. These hedges may be raised by sowing the berries in the place 

 where they are designed to remain, or by plants of three or four years' growth ; but as the 

 berries continue in the ground near eighteen months before the plants appear, few persons. 



