268 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
December 27, 1890. 
the base, and bluntly angular, with a deep green skin 
changing to a clear yellow, tinted greeD, and marked 
with russety dots. The flesh is white, crisp and juicy, 
with a sub-acid flavour. Its origin has probably never 
been ascertained, or lost in obscurity, but it can hardly 
be less than a hundred years old. The oldest name is 
King Apple, and it is surprising that pomologists 
should not observe the right of priority in the same 
way as botanists do. It is in season from November 
to March, and is a culinary variety. 
Hoary Morning 1 Apple. 
Highly coloured Apples, as a rule, rank amongst the 
dessert kinds, but in this, which is reckoned a culinary 
variety, we have an exception. The fruit is usually 
roundish, but we noted some remarkably flattened ones 
in the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at 
Chiswick, and which have been grown under glass. 
From a broad, flattened base they narrowed so sud¬ 
denly to the small, closed eye as if they had been 
flattened artificially. The skin was yellow, blotched, 
striped and suffused rather closely with bright red or 
crimson. Usually a thick hoary bloom covers the 
whole skin, as with hoar frost, thus suggesting the 
name, but culture under glass seems to affect this 
peculiarity, rendering the skin brighter. It keeps in 
good condition from October to Christmas, or even 
longer under favourable conditions, and besides being 
useful for cooking, would not be amiss on the table at 
that festive season for the sake of its fine appearance. 
Nor would it be unacceptable to the palate of some, espe¬ 
cially when brought into competition with foreign kinds. 
Herbaceous Plants. 
Some weeks ago I drew attention to the difficulties 
often experienced in judging collections of blooms, as 
to which were really herbaceous and which were not, 
and I then suggested that in future schedules, instead 
of herbaceous cut blooms, the words “ hardy border 
plants ” should be adopted, excluding Roses, Shrubs, 
and annuals. I was very pleased to see that in your 
issue of the 20th inst., Mr. Napper also recommends 
the adoption of this designation. It would save 
judges much trouble and the exhibitor annoyance. 
Let me also thank Mr. Napper for his most interesting 
account of the old Devoniensis Rose. I well remember 
its introduction, and let me also say that “Mr. Ponkey ” 
is a misprint for Mr. Pontey, a well-known Plymouth 
nurseryman in those days .—A Perplexed Judge. 
CEchmea paniculigera. 
The leaves of this strong-growing species form a broad 
vasiforin tuft, and are each 2 ft. to 3 ft. long, bright 
green and spiny, serrate at the margin. The in¬ 
florescence itself stands 3 ftr above the top of the pot, 
and the flowers form a dense pyramidal branching 
spike-like panicle. The lower bracts are large and 
lanceolate, or oblong-lanceolate, de flexed and rosy 
carmine (some would say scarlet). The calyx is of a 
violet-blue at the base, porcelain-white upwards, and 
pink at the tips. There is something noble and 
striking about this, as about many others of the 
Bromeliads, whose bold inflorescence springs from the 
centre of leaves arranged in the form of a vase of 
greater or less size. The Pine Apple is a familiar 
instance, although the leaves are not so regularly 
spreading as in the present case. The worst feature of 
these plants is that the main crown dies after flowering, 
as the inflorescence is terminal, so that suckers have to 
be grown on afresh to get plants up to the original 
size. The flowers of those which come into bloom 
rapidly, die away as quickly ; but CE. paniculigera 
develops slowly, and lasts a long time in beauty. 
-- 
EVERGREENS FOR CHRISTMAS 
DECORATION. 
Trees and flowers—the former especially—are largely 
interwoven with our Christmas festivities, both ecclesi¬ 
astical and secular. That the custom of decking 
churches with evergreens is one of great antiquity 
cannot be doubted, and in earlier times the Holly, 
Laurel, Bay, Rosemary, Ivy, and others were employed, 
and even the “treacherous Mistleto.” Why the Mistleto 
has been termed “treacherous” I do not know, except 
that we learn through the Scandinavian mythology, 
it was an arrow made from the Mistleto, shot by the 
blind deity Hoder, which killed Baldur, the apostle of 
the north. Then, the legend tells us, the gods restored 
Baldur to life, and as a reparation for his injury the 
Mistleto was dedicated to his mother Frigga ; and, to 
prevent its being again used adversely to her, the plant 
was placed under her sole control so long as it did not 
touch the earth. It is on this account, it is said, that 
it has long been customary to suspend Mistleto from 
ceilings, and so whenever persons of opposite sexes 
pass under it they give one another the kiss of peace 
and love, in the full assurance that this plant is no 
longer an instrument of mischief. This is a custom of 
great antiquity, also having originated, it is said, when 
the plant was dedicated to Frigga, the Venus of the 
Scandinavian mythology. 
The Druids regarded the Mistleto as a divine gift of 
peculiar sanctity, only to be gathered with befitting 
ceremonies. They considered the Mistleto which grew 
on the Oak most sacred, and efficacious in all sorts of 
diseases ; they attributed to it marvellous curative 
properties ; they placed it in water, and distributed it 
to those who deserved it, to act as a charm against the 
spells of witches and sorcerers. It is now excluded 
from the boughs which are employed to decorate 
churches at Christmas, either on account of its 
heathenish associations, or probably because being so 
often in rustic places associated with Christmas merri¬ 
ment, it might awaken remembrances little favourable 
to thought and devotion. We are informed as a 
singular fact in vegetable physiology that the Mistleto 
is found when growing on the Apple to contain twice 
as much potash, and five times as much phosphoric 
acid as the tree itself, and when parasitic on the Oak 
its bark is astringent. 
The Holly and the Laurel form a large part of the 
evergreens used in church decoration ; the Bay, 
Aucuba, Spruce Fir, and others are also employed. 
The origin ol this custom is probably traceable to one 
of the prophecies in the book of Isaiah : “The glory of 
Lebanon shall come unto thee, the Fir tree and the 
Box tree together, to beautify the place of my sanc¬ 
tuary, and I will make the place of my feet glorious.” 
No evergreen shrub enjoys such a monopoly of use in 
connection with our Christmas festivities as the Holly. 
No evil associations appear to relate to this shrub ; 
tradition seems to have invested it with beneficent 
qualities or influences. Was it because the disciples of 
Z iroaster, or the Fire Worshippers of Persia employed 
an infusion of its leaves for several purposes connected 
with their religious observances ; or because of the 
custom of decorating places of worship with Holly 
boughs, supposed to have been derived from the 
Romans, who, it is said, compelled the people to bring 
into their temples boughs of Holly and evergreens, 
because the Oaks were then bare of leaves ? That the 
Early Christian Church interdicted its use there can be 
no doubt, but the converts disregarding it, employed it 
in their houses and later in the churches. In our day 
the use of the Holly is so interwoven with the 
ecclesiastical celebrations of the Christmas season as to 
appear as if of consecrated value at that particular 
time, when the Church observes what St. Gregory 
termed the “lestival of all festivals.” 
The Laurel was held in high esteem by the Greeks 
and Romans, and even held sacred ; the ancient 
Egyptians adored it, and it was dedicated to Apollo. 
A Laurel branch was thought to impart to prophets the 
faculty of seeing what was obscure or hidden, and the 
tree was believed to possess the property of inducing 
sleep and visions. All its heathenish associations have 
not prevented it from being employed in the decoration 
of churches, probably because it is one of the ever¬ 
greens which maintains its abundant foliage green and 
uninjured, except in times of very severe frost or icy 
winds. Probably the Laurel of the ancients was the 
Bay tree of our day. 
The Rosemary was employed in olden times for festive 
purposes, its silvery foliage mingling well with Holly, 
Mistleto, and Bay in the decoration of rooms, &c., and 
the dish of roast beef at Christmas was decorated with it. 
It is easy to understand the veneration for this plant 
among the Early Christians, for tradition states that 
the Rosemary afforded shelter and protection to the 
Virgin Mary during her flight with the infant Saviour 
into Egypt. In our day it has come to be more closely 
associated with funereal customs. 
The employment of some of the Fir tribe is readily 
understood : their ample spreading foliage being green 
and enduring, forms a striking contrast with the 
appearance of nature at the Christmas season of the year. 
Our favourite Christmas tree is the Spruce Fir ; its 
spreading horizontal branches rising gracefully in tier 
above tier, fit it for this purpose. The custom of the 
Christmas tree appears to have prevailed in Denmark, 
Russia, Sweden and Germany before it was introduced 
to England. The Yule-log has practically died out, 
though it is still forthcoming in some parts of 
Devonshire, and the Christmas tree has taken its place. 
Thousands are employed at Christmas, and the furnish¬ 
ing of these trees has almost become a special industry. 
In some parts of the country a peculiar sacredness 
appears to attach to the evergreens employed in the 
decoration of churches. In the West Riding of 
Yorkshire it is thought sinful to burn such, and they 
are carefully and reverently laid aside until they decay. 
But the Christmas season is pregnant with miraculous 
associations, and the feeling that prohibits the burning 
of branches used in the churches, is but a bequest of 
the time when the miraculous powerfully influenced the 
human mind.— E. IV. 
ABOUT TITMICE. 
Few classes of birds are more interesting than the Tit¬ 
mice (Paridae), comprising, so far as we are concerned, 
some seven species, two of which are rare. The most 
plentiful and generally known are the Great Tit and 
the little Blue Tit, which, besides their correct desig¬ 
nations, rejoice in many country names, as Saw-setters, 
Joe Bent, and others, numberless and so local as to be 
almost impossible to write down. To many, the whole 
of the family are known only as Tomtits. Not any of 
these birds are of large size. They are seldom seen 
except in small troups, being to a certain degree 
gregarious after breeding time. These troups are 
reasonably considered to consist of relations—fellow 
nestlings that were ; this is particularly so with the 
long-tailed Titmouse, which, by the way, is not, in 
the opinion of several writers, a true Parus, as it 
differs in many ways from its nominal allies. 
On the whole, Tits are regarded with disfavour by 
gardeners and farmers, but in reality without cause. 
Their food, without any doubt, consists mostly of 
insects—ov®, larv®, and pup®, and for this reason 
they should be encouraged and protected. In spring 
and summer they destroy vast numbers of caterpillars, 
and with them raise their broods, often so numerous. 
In autumn they feed largely upon perfect insects, 
moths, beetles, &c., &c., and in winter upon the eggs 
(which would hatch during the following spring) and 
hibernating insects, secreted in the bark of such trees 
as the Oak, Elm, and Willow. Blue Tits find Oaks 
worth searching all the year round, and probably the 
green oakmoth (Tortrix viridana) falls an easy victim 
to their healthy appetites. 
The long-tailed variety is more insectivorous than 
the others, and picks off aphides in a very satisfactory 
manner. I have seen a troup of these Tits consume the 
Rose aphis (Syphonophora ros®) wholesale, going from 
tree to tree, and from row to row, until so few were left 
that they did not think it worth while remaining 
longer, and flew “over the garden wal 1 ,” doubtless to 
perform the same charitable office to my next-door 
neighbour. Several charges, however, are brought 
against these useful birds. In the first place, they are 
said to be exceedingly partial to grain of various kinds ; 
and it must be admitted that they do sometimes help 
themselves to a little Indian Corn, or the like, but 
seldom in sufficient quantities to be noticeable. Then, 
Peas are a favourite dish with them, and in the 
summer, especially during hot weather, they work 
mischief among the rows of this plant. Fruit, too, 
before sufficiently ripe to pick, they will peck and 
spoil, often leaving a Pear or Apple merely a skeleton 
of stalk and skin. 
I remember an old man who was, as a rule, a 
practical ornithologist in his way, but one of the 
severely prejudiced class, spending a lot of his time in 
shooting what he termed “them beggarin’ Tomtits” 
out of the Nut trees, as he said “they spiled the nuts.” 
I think the birds are quite capable of this, and have 
heard something of the kind elsewhere ; but some of 
the shells he showed me as specimens of their handi¬ 
work were attacked by the nut weevil (Balaninus 
nucum), after which insects, or the others that are 
common on Filberts, it is quite likely the Tits were 
seeking. I have read of fruit buds being eaten by 
Blue Tits, but cannot say I have noticed the circum¬ 
stance. Besides several varieties of seed, they are very 
fond of that of the Mikado and other large-flowered 
Poppies, and may be seen in the flower beds perched 
on the top of a fat pod, regaling themselves with the 
half-ripe seeds which are so neatly extracted. This is 
sometimes annoying, but easily prevented by pro¬ 
tecting the pods with canvas or muslin when they are 
wanted for future use. 
Both the Marsh and Great Tits are accused of 
stealing hive bees, and are frequently shot while in the 
act of tapping at the entrance of the hive to drive out 
a bee. Suet is, in cold weather, a great attraction, 
and many people tie a lump of it to a length of string 
and hang it up in front of some window, from which 
the birds can be easily watched. 
In a book entitled The Journal of a Naturalist 
(1S30), the author, after mentioning that in his locality 
Tomtits were destroyed as vermin, goes on : “ In what 
evil hour, and for what crime, this poor little bird 
(Parus e®ruleus) could have incurred the anathema of 
a parish, it is difficult to conjecture. I know hardly 
any small animal that lives a more precarious life than 
the little blue Tomtit. Indeed, it is marvellous how 
any of the insectivorous birds, that pass their winter 
with us, are supplied with food during inclement 
seasons, unless they have greater powers of abstinence 
than we are aware of; but our small birds are generally 
