THE HOLLY. 
SUPPOSE that holly is chiefly associated in the minds 
of most English people with the interior of our houses 
and churches at Christmas time, when the bright 
scarlet berries, contrasting with the deep green of the 
prickly leaf, form such an agreeable feature in the decorations. 
But a lover of trees, who studies their beauties at all seasons 
of the year, will tell you to also observe the pretty white flowers 
that adorn this tree in the spring-time. 
A botanist would say much about the tree that will here be 
omitted, and I shall speak rather of its practical uses and value 
as a forest tree. 
As an ornamental shrub it is seen in gardens and parks, and 
it makes a very useful hedge, standing the use of clipping shears 
well. Its straight shoots are cut in hedges and other places, 
and are unrivalled for making carriage whips, the branches, 
when trimmed off, leaving knots to vary the monotony of the 
long handle. Such is the holly and its uses where the soil is 
rich. But where we come to light, sandy soil, in favourable 
situations, the holly grows to a height of fifty feet or more, and 
is a worthy companion of the oak in the forest. The timber it 
produces is very valuable, it is white, close-grained and hard, 
and is of special use to the cabinet-maker, particularly for inlaid 
work. It is sometimes used for wood-engraving in place of box : 
it also forms excellent handles for tools. Bird-lime is made 
from the bark. 
Within a mile of my house in South Hampshire are several 
fine holly trees, some of great age. The girth of the largest is 
4 feet lo inches at the height of a man’s chest. Owing to the 
trees around, it was impracticable to get a sketch of the whole 
tree, but I have got the stem with two large branches growing 
upwards, almost from the roots, to get at the light. The tree 
has a fine head, with leaves on the outside, but this could not 
be included in the sketch. Were I a photographer, the camera 
could not have helped me ; rather the reverse, for I find that in 
sketching trees and other objects I am able to realise points 
about them that I should otherwise miss. 
The tree is situated on a northern slope. I find its height, 
'oy measurement with the sextant, to be, to the summit of the 
crown, about 40 feet, and to the top of the bole, or timber- 
cylinder, 18 feet. The tree, however, if cut down, would be of 
little use as timber ; there is a hole in the lower part of the 
trunk — the result of defective pruning, whether by nature or the 
hand of man — by which the rain enters, and I thrust my stick 
into a mass of black rot inside the tree. This rot must dis- 
colour the wood of the trunk, and in time will render the tree 
liable to be broken off by the wind when the oaks surrounding 
it have been cut down. 
