276 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
I 
January 9. 
soil hereabouts, have a “ cop,” or raised bank, around 
them, on which the Thorn hedge is planted. These 
“ cops” are about two feet above the ground-level, and, 
as may be readily imagined, are seldom very moist: the 
moor, or lieath-soil, of which they are mainly composed, 
being of an exceedingly loose character, and possessing 
little of the principle of cohesion. In former days, 
considerable quantities of sheep, of what are called the 
“ Forest breed,” were sustained on these unreclaimed 
moors; and, doubtless, the first act of those who 
enclosed under such circumstances, would bo to raise 
this embankment,—termed “ cop,”—as a help to the 
quickset-hedge, which, on such lean soil, had to go 
through a severe probation before it could become 
established. 
If one thing more than another can be inferred from 
these circumstances it is this,—that the Holly will 
succeed in almost any soil that is tolerably friable, of a 
reasonable depth, and, above all, over a dry subsoil. 
To the landscape, or ornamental gardener, this useful, 
rich, and noble evergreen is of the very highest import¬ 
ance. To pass from the common Holly in its green state, 
what an almost endless variety has proceeded from it, or 
claims affinity ! To say little of the striped kinds, com¬ 
prising not only a great variety in regard of tint, or 
colouring, from the palest silver up to the warmest 
gold, or assuming even a crimson or purple hue,—what 
various forms does the foliage assume, and how varied 
the general expression of the whole tree! And as to 
foliage in this family,—we have waved leaves, leathery 
leaves, saw leaves, ciliated, or hairy leaves, narrow leaves, 
broad leaves, margined leaves, spineless leaves, the 
hedgehog leaved, the yellow berried, and I know not 
how many others ; these, however, concern the planter 
most. 
Rut not in leaves alone need we seek for distinctness; 
habit of growth is, of course, a great consideration, as to 
ornamental gardening at least. And here we may find 
the spivy, the compact, the branchy, the squat, and, 
indeed, many other forms or habits, even under ordinary 
conditions; but, treated specially", you may have as 
many forms as you please. All gardeners know full 
well its singular pliability, whether under the operations 
of the knife or the shears. If 1 were a gentleman about 
establishing now gardens, in which shrubberios, shrub- 
masses, screens, &c., were concerned, I should press 
hard on my planter to introduce nearly twenty per cent 
of Hollies, feeling assured, that in the subsequent 
operations of thinning, removal, &c., my son, if not my 
grandson, would justify me for so strong a feeling. 
I wonder much that our farmers do not make a more 
free use of the Holly; to be sure, it will not bear 
cutting down, as a hedge, like the White Thorn, and, 
where the course of tillage is of such a character as to 
require the periodical cutting-down of weak Thorn 
hedges, why the Holly can form no part of such a 
system, if system it must be called. Such, however, is 
the exception as to the country at large; and I may 
here advert to the character and value the Holly 
assumes in my own locality as a shelter for cattle, 
whether systematic or accidental. Everybody connected 
with matters requiring shelter, whether in the garden or 
the field, knows full well the value of an evergreen over 
a deciduous hedge, through the autumn, winter, and 
early spring. Of course, what will shelter a horse 
or cow will shelter a Cauliflower; and we all know, 
that a dead fence, such as a wall or close paling, 
through its entire impenetrability, creates an eddy, 
or current, which is robbed of half its violence 
hy a stout hedge, or eveu by a huge Holly-bush at 
intervals. We have numerous fields, within a few miles 
of us, in which a thick Holly-bush or two occurs at 
intervals; and it is amusing, as well as confirmatory of 
the utility of the Holly as shelter, to see the cattle in 
wintry weather creeping to their sides in severe winds; 
and the cattle are pretty good judges as to the best kind 
of shelter. 
But to return to the garden. What I would direct 
the attention of proprietors to, is the importance of 
securing a considerable quantity of Hollies in their 
shrubberies and plantations; if they have not formed a 
good proportion to other trees at first, to lose no time in 
introducing more. Where Hollies are required to be 
introduced to old shrubberies, in order to redeem the 
omissions of the original planter, some management is 1 
requisite. It generally becomes necessary to use the 
mattock, saw, and bill-hook previously; for, although 
Hollies will do with as intense a shade as most of our 
hardy trees, yet a little freedom is requisite to start 
them. Moreover, there is the rivalry of the roots of 
contiguous trees or shrubs, which may not be borne 
beyond a certain degree. Above all, the soil should be | 
well broken up where they are introduced; it is of no 
use making little round holes and “ sticking in ” a plant 
here and there. People may as well plant them in a j 
wash-hand basin. Everybody knows that old shrubberies, 
full of the roots of trees and shrubs, and consolidated 
through time, acquire a consistency and texture much ; 
averse to the free rooting of young shrubs; which, 
indeed, cannot be expected to compete with old trees 
and shrubs without a special provision. 
R. Errington. 
PLANTING AND STAKING TREES. 
From the end of last July to the third day of the new | 
year, the present date of writing this, the weather has 
been more favourable for the operations of the gardener 
and planter than the same period has been for the last 
two-and-thirty years, when I first entered the garden; 
and yet the buds are not so forward for the next season 
as I have often seen them at the beginning of January. 
But that backwardness is all the better for us. Every 
tree, and bush, and plant has ripened thoroughly this 
last autumn, if that was at all natural to it in out- 
climate. Every tree and bush that was transplanted 
last October, and many which were not moved till late 
in November, had made young feeding roots before the 
end of the old year; and if the staking of such trees 
was strong enough to stand against the high wind which 
ushered in the new year, and broke down many trees 
round London, the hopes of the planter may be as 
surely fixed as his newly-planted trees. 
I never knew, till this autumn, that sack-ties (rope 
yarn) is the best “ textile ” for fastening and tying newly- 
planted trees with, as they have tied the Araucarias at 
the Crystal Palace with metallic wires. 1 was told of 
this by an old woodman, who was afterwards a sailor, 
and is now a Nimrod in one of the best families in the 
neighbourhood. Fie is the first coachman I ever knew to 
be a good planter, and to like “ a good pull,” when he is 
not wanted to “ pull up.” All the stakes in the world, 
if they were fastened by civil or military engineers, 
are not half so good for keeping up newly-planted trees 
against all weathers, as small “ guy ” ropes, three to 
each tree, and fastened to other trees, if they are near, 
or to stakes fastened very firmly into the earth, as far 
from the stem of the tree as the ropes are tied up from 
the ground. The difficulty hitherto experienced by 
gardeners in the use of rope was, that they could not 
be made sufficiently tight to bold the tree quite steady, 
as they would “ give and take,” or expand and contract, 
according as they were dry or wet; this first led to the 
use of the metallic ropes for the same purpose, and for 
a few ornamental trees about the more dressed parts of 
the ground these are still to be preferred ; but when you 
come to “plant out” a whole side, or front, or back 
view, with large trees, to hide those dreadfully ugly 
