THE HOLUES. 



119 



Sound advice was given recently by a writer who advised that rhodo- 

 dendrons should be kept for middle distances. There they make a fine 

 effect in the landscape, winter and summer. Hollies, on the other hand, 

 where there is space enough for tree-planting at all, may be stationed 

 either near or far, and their effect on the outlook never becomes gloomy 

 or oppressive. 



Our forefathers were fond of planting belts of forest trees as a pro- 

 tection to their dwellings, or, maybe, they planted their dwellings within 

 the sheltering embrace of trees already grown, for in many cases these 

 encircling groves are more ancient than the buildings they surround. 

 We can all call to mind some old- time manor-house, shut in by gaunt, 

 leafless trees, set, evidently with intention at the outset, rather close 

 together, but which, through neglect of later owners, have never been 

 properly thinned out or allowed room for development. Who has not 

 felt on occasion that the shelter afforded by such skeleton trees, tossing 

 their lean branches against a leaden sky, is somewhat dearly bought, even 

 on a winter's day, at the expense of ghostly gloom and damp depression ? 

 What a change for the better, under these and similar conditions, might 

 follow a liberal use of hatchet and saw, and a careful grouping amidst the 

 survivors of the best varieties of bright-leaved holly ! 



Those who are thinking of any new planting of trees and shrubs in 

 garden, coppice or hedge, might do well to think over its good qualities 

 before going further afield for a choice. In this hurrying age we cannot 

 wait for anything that seems to loiter, and perhaps it is partly for this 

 reason that holly is not planted as it used to be. But partly, also, it 

 may be that our minds are led astray by the innumerable foreign trees 

 and shrubs which are now within our reach, and clamour for space in such 

 planting ground as may have fallen to our lot. It is not now the same 

 easy task to us as to our forefathers to decide what will be the most in 

 concord with the position it has to fill. One of the first canons to be 

 considered in planting is congruity, and that not only for the present, but 

 in the futuro ; yet in everyday practice this principle is constantly set 

 aside. But, in making choice of this fine native tree, we can hardly go 

 wrong, so long as we can afford it room enough for free development. 

 Like many another common thing, as old as the hills, in Nature, it will 

 often give us a glad surprise as we notice some feature, unsuspected 

 hitherto, which comes upon us suddenly with all the force of a new 

 sensation. There is a lovely stretch of woodland known as Cranborne 

 Chase, which reaches from the high Dorset Downs till it merges itself in 

 the New Forest. The uplands, fringed with hazel coppice, can boast of 

 no alluvial richness. A thin crust of earth lies spread over pure chalk, 

 yet in this dry, hungry soil, which is certainly not over favourable for the 

 development of height or girth in ordinary forest trees, the hollies rear 

 their grey trunks above the tall nut-bushes, and lend beauty to the 

 landscape, far and near, which would be sadly marred without them. 

 Except in waterlogged land, they will thrive in any soil or aspect, 

 though they return grateful thanks in kind for good, deep, sandy loam 

 and an average supply of moisture, not omitting when necessary mulch- 

 ings of rotted manure. Transplanting or any other operation that 

 involves root disturbance should be carried out in May, no matter what 



