308 
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE MISTLETOE. 
and cut off the Mistletoe with a golden sickle. “ The bards walked first singing 
canticles and hymns; afterwards came a herald, the caduceus in his hand, 
followed by three Druids, who walked in front, carrying the things necessary for 
the sacrifice: afterwards appeared the prince of the Druids, accompanied by all 
the people. He mounted upon the Oak, and cut the Mistletoe with a golden 
sickle. The other Druids received it with respect, and upon the first day of the 
year distributed it to the people as a holy thing.”* The Druids, it is affirmed, 
had an extraordinary veneration for the number three, and as the berries of the 
Mistletoe may be often found clustered in threes, this may probably have enhanced 
their esteem for the “ celestial plant.” 
Having been myself a frequent Mistletoe-hunter, though certainly not robed in 
the mystic habiliments of “ Jack-in-the-Green,” or as a white-robed Arch-Druid, 
I shall now just state the various trees that I have actually seen studded with 
the hallowed mirth-inspiring Mistletoe. 
On the Apple —extremely abundant; and why it is so I think arises from 
the disposition in that tree to form knots, a disease produced from an 
excess of sap, or an inertness in it to which the Mistletoe offers a relief 
somewhat analogous to cupping—the redundant juices being carried off 
as nutriment to the parasite. 
. Pear— rare. 
. Lime— rather common, and often plentiful. 
. Hawthorn— frequent, and in extending lines. 
. Maple— not unfrequent. 
... Mountain Ash— very uncommon. 
. Robinia pseud-Acacia —local, though in shrubberies in Worcester¬ 
shire I have several times seen it there. 
. Willow— occasionally. 
. Ash —sometimes very profusely. 
. Medlar —met with once only. 
. Aspen— very rarely. 
. Black Poplar—so excessively abundant in almost all recent planta¬ 
tions in Worcestershire, as literally to bend some of the trees towards 
the ground ; yet on old Poplars I have never*seen a single plant. 
A few* other trees have been mentioned on which I have not seen the Mistletoe, 
and I therefore pass on to notice its occurrence on th eOak, which is now undoubtedly 
a very great rarity ; and I consider this to arise partly from the Romans having 
destroyed all the Druidical Mistletoe, for it is most remarkable that though so 
many old Oaks are recorded as existing in this country, perhaps upwards of 1,000 
Fosbrooke’s Ency. of Antiquities, Vol. II., p. 745. 
