December 25, im j 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
555 
obtained just before Christmas and for about one week afterwards. 
'We are very well satisfied with Is. per dozen blooms at this the 
commencement of the season, the prices then gradually dropping 
to about 4d. per dozen for fresh blooms. In all probability our 
average per strong clump this winter will be 100 blooms, and it will 
thus be seen I am not far wrong in attaching so much value to the 
breadth of plants under my charge. 
Most gardeners are fully alive to the usefulness of these plants, 
th«ugh only a comparatively few have as yet succeeded in growing 
them successfully. Failures are not so much due to any inherent 
'fastidiousness of the plants, but ra;her to either a bad start being 
made or an excess of zeal on the part of the cultivator. What I call 
making a bad start is the too common practice of purchasing cheap 
plants, and which are principally obtained from Austria and northern 
Italy. These are simply “collected” plants, obtained from where 
they were growing in a wild state, and not only is the variety 
inferior, but the plants are almost irrecoverably injured by long 
exposure to the air before they reach this country. Last winter I 
saw a large breadth of imported plants in a nursery that had lost 
nearly all their leaves by an ordinarily severe frost, and though 
most of them are producing a few flowers this season they are yet 
a poor weakly lot, and scarcely worth garden room. Nor are the 
plants grown in Holland to be "depended upon, and those who are 
anxious to make a good start should purchase, as soon as they can 
ha,ve them, strong home-grown clumps from English nurserymen. 
The flowers of the Easter variety do not equal the Eucharis in 
purity of colour, but are a good substitute for the same, and far 
■more serviceable. 
Where so many err is in constantly lifting, shifting, and 
dividing their clumps. Large growers of these flowers for market 
■certainly take great liberties -with their plants, a great breadth 
being annually cleared of their leaves, lifted, and planted thickly 
under glass, so as to have abundance of flowers for Christmas ; but 
they have several large batches of various ages always coming on, 
and can afford to rest or split up any plants previously overworked 
or roughly used. Private growers with a small stock of plants 
must run no risks, but ought rather to arrange their plants in such 
a manner as to do away with the necessity for moving them for 
several years. What Hellebores require and should have, if 
possible, is a deep and fairly rich root run, a moderately rich 
loamy soil best suiting them, though I have known them do 
well in what is termed a brashy soil. A hot and dry soil or 
position will not do. Wherever planted thev ought to be 
arranged in groups or patches, with a view to covering these 
with frames or handlights, as unless thus covered the flowers 
are of little market value, the colour and, strange to relate, 
•durability of the flowers gathered from non-covered plants being 
faulty. We find span-roofed frames 9 feet long and 4 feet wide 
With hinged lights very serviceable. This season the flowers are 
very late, but if there are plenty of buds half or three parts 
expanded at Christmas we shall be very well pleased, as these if 
gathered and placed in pans of water in strong heat, such as a 
plant stove, will open well in a few hours. Farther cultural notes 
must be deferred.—M. H. 
CHRISTMAS EVERGREENS. 
As the festive season approaches not only are eating and 
drinking commodities in great demand, but also all kinds of ever- 
greens. The British public has always bedecked their homes with 
these, from humblest cottager to the wealthy, and it is no u.iusual 
sight to see the working classes on Christmas Eve, or just before, 
carrying home a small Spruce Fir as a Christmas tree for the 
children and a small bunch of evergreens, that both together, 
perhaps cost the modest sum of sixpence. It is also surprising to 
■see the large number of crates of Mistletoe disposed of and we 
wonder whence it all comes. I am told that the greater part 
of the Mistletoe that finds its way to our large markets comes from 
France and other European countries. Be that as it may, it is 
certain there is not sufficient in these islands to meet the enormous 
demand for it. 
It has neen the custom for many years for the butchers, bakers, 
grocers, and all purveyors of useful commodities to decorate their 
shops, especially at this time of year, and show off their wares 
to the best advantage ; and it is surprising that year by year each 
one tries to vie with his neighbours to have the best “ show,” and 
to inprove on the last year’s display ; and the streets will be thick 
with people admiring and criticising, and giving their opinion on 
the tradespeople who have the best display, that where a plentiful 
supply of evergreens are forthcoming these are bought up to help 
in this Christmas decoration. The fashion has also gone to the 
church decorators, and the ladies who so willingly give their time, 
zeal, and ingenuity for beautifying the house of God deserve great 
praise for the pains they take in the arrangement of the different 
kinds of evergreens. Texts in windows, panels of reading desks 
and pulpits, neatly edged with foliage and berries. Green moss 
also is used with effect. One advantage of evergreens at this 
season of the year is that they last fresh so long after being cut. 
Some hinging wreaths that were made last January with small 
pieces of variegated Box did not look bad at the end of March. 
Sashcord was used as a foundation with small string for tying on. 
1 also saw some long wreaths made with large leaves of the Irish 
Ivy tied very closely that did duty in a barn for a meeting in 
October, and from some cause or other were not taken down. The 
March following another meeting of a different character took 
place in the same barn, and the Ivy wreaths were still left up, and 
by candlelight they looked but little altered. The almost total 
darkness and stillness perhaps had something to do with their keep¬ 
ing so well. The evergreens used for church decorations, as a rule, 
keep well the five or six weeks they are allowed to remain. 
Foremost amongst the Christmas evergreens stands the Holly. 
No bunch or bundle is complete withouc it, and is eagerly sought 
after the fortnight preceding the 25th of December. I usually 
have cut the quantity I think will be required about the first 
week in December. Ic is laid in heaps and Laurel boughs placed 
over it to protect it from birds, for if left till the month is far 
advanced the chances are the birds take the greater part of it. 
With us they usually begin before November is out, stripping tree 
by tree till all are gone. Nor is it all safe when cut even from 
birds, f >r if field mice are at all abundant they will find them out 
and strip the berries off, I suppose for the sake of the small kernels 
inside the stones. A few years ago we had a particularly fine- 
berried tree that I wished to keep for home use ; this was cut 
earlier than usual because of the birds, and covered over well with 
Laurel bough?. This heap was not looked at till wanted in the 
week preceding Christmas, and judge of my surprise when it was 
uncovered not a berry was left upon any of the branches, but all or 
nearly so lay upon the ground. It was evident that field mice had 
stripped them, and the ground in the vicinity was honeycombed 
with their runs. A good cutting of Laurel boughs are now put- 
underneath the Holly as well as above it, as a little prevention 
from the depredations of these little rodents. 
The small-leaved Ivy is one of the best plants for decoration, 
either for summer or winter, long loose trails from 3 to 6 feet 
long particularly useful in a variety of ways f >r rooms, halls, 
passages, churches, or near cornices, or wherever a hook or nail can 
be put. It is not of so much use if taken from a wall or building, 
but should be taken from woods and half-wild shrubberies, where 
it is found growing in its own wild way, climbing up the trunks 
of trees and shrubs, and then hinging down in long graceful trails, 
sometimes 12 feet in length. The stone pillars in a church I have 
seen decorated with it, not just a few pieces round the top, but 
commencing at the bottom of the pillar, and training it in an irre¬ 
gular, but still tending in an upright direction, varying the branches 
and laterals from 3 to 12 inches apart, making it appear as if the 
Ivy had grown there. Very small 1 intacks appear to have been 
used here and there to fix it in position, also a few circles of small 
string round the pillars. 
The leaves of Berberis Aquifolium mike very good edgings for 
text boards, so al-o small sprays of Lobb’s Thuja (Thuja gigantea), 
fixed with small tacks. The foliage of this last-named plant can 
be used in a variety of ways that suggest themselves to the art 
of the decorator. It is good for making small wreaths from 
2 to 3 inches in thickness, with thick string for a foundation. 
The foliage lasts well, it is elegant and graceful, and small pieces a 
few inches in length, if cut right, lie flat, and can be used for 
making edgings or letters on a light ground, such as calico or 
canvas. If on a board, very small tacks can be pierced through the 
stems, but if only on canvas or bunting, small pins answer very 
well, or better still, a needle and thread. A very neat and lasting 
plant is the small Periwinkle, Vinca minor, and its variegated variety. 
Sprays of from 12 to 30 inches in length are good for hanging 
down from lamps and chandeliers, or other things where something 
small and light is required. Lonicera aurea reticulata is pretty, 
but will not last so long as the Vinca. 
Among the other evergreens used for Christmas decorations are 
the Laurel, Aucuba, Box, Yew, and berried Ivy. Cupressus 
macrocarpa, C. Lawsoni, Abies Douglasi, A. Nordmanniana, and 
Thuja gigantea, when plentiful are also good, but no attempt should 
be made to disfigure such trees by cutting the ends of the branches 
off. It often happens that where branches hang over walks or 
over shrubs the bottom branches want sawing off at the trunk, and 
it is the foliage from these that can be utilised, and now is a 
very good time to saw them off where wanted. Box, Yew, and 
Laurel should be cut as not to disfigure the plants. Small boughs 
of the Aucuba japonica are good for filling up grates and fire¬ 
places built up and laid lightly on each other. One of the best 
