January 12, 1889. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
807 
been an old custom to take tbe Holly down on Candle¬ 
mas Eve. Herricks, one of the old English poets, 
says : — 
“ Down with the Holly and Ivy all, 
Wherewith ye deck the Christmas hall; 
So that the superstitious find 
Not one least branch there left behind ; 
For look, how many leaves there be 
Neglected there—maids ’tend to me— 
So many goblins ye shall see.” 
The Holly has been by many considered to be merely 
a shrub, but when left to its natural growth it attains 
to a height of at least 30 ft. For a fence there is 
no better tree than the Holly ; it rarely, if ever, 
suffers from the severest winter ; it is always green, 
strong, and impenetrable, and it is easily kept in order. 
"Were it not that the Holly grows very slowly when 
young, it would make better hedge-rows than the 
Hawthorn. "When allowed time and not destroyed by 
shortening the top shoot, the Holly grows up to a large 
tree. I have said it reaches to a height of 30 feet; 
some at the Holly Walk, near Frensham, in Surrey, 
are 'mentioned by Bradley as growing to a height of 
60 ft. ; and old Hollies of 30 ft. and 40 ft., with 
clean trunks, can, according to one authority, be met 
with in many parts of the country. 
A well-developed hedge of Holly is always a pleasing 
object, though occasionally clipped into formal shapes. 
It bears the shears well, and forms a fence as tall, as 
wide, and as dense as can be wished for by the most 
exacting. It is of rather slow growth for the first year 
or two, but after that, if a moderate degree of attention 
be bestowed upon it, it advances more rapidly, and 
soon realises its character for combined beauty and 
utility. Evelyn had a magnificent Holly hedge in his 
gardens at Says Court, which he planted at the sug¬ 
gestion of Peter the Great, who resided in his house 
when he worked in the dockyards of Deptford. He 
thus rapturously writes of this fine fence “Is there 
under heaven a more glorious and refreshing object 
of this kind than an impregnable hedge of about 400 ft. 
in length, 9 ft. in height, and 5 ft. in diameter, which 
I can show in my new-raised garden at Says Court 
(thanks to the Czar of Muscovy) at any time of the 
year, glittering with its armed and varnished leaves, 
the taller standards, at orderly distances, blushing with 
their natural coral.’’ There was, a few years ago—-and 
it no doubt exists now—a wonderful Holly hedge at 
Keele Hall, Newcastle-under-Lyne, in which multitudes 
of sparrows used to roost at night. 
The Holly has been^described as “one of the ever¬ 
green glories of the English gardens. There its deep 
green glossy foliage, and bright coral berries, which 
hang on for a long time, are seen enlivening the 
pleasure grounds and shrubberies throughout the whole 
of that leafless and inactive period in vegetation— 
winter.” A place in which Hollies abound is always 
well furnished during the barren period of the year. 
Martin first discovered the differences of sex in the 
Holly, some being male, others female, and others 
hermaphrodite. It is a tree of great longevity, and 
will grow in any soil not very wet ; but it thrives best 
in a dry deep loam. Of the green-leaved Hollies, the 
thick-leaved Crassifolia type are among the best. 
Hodginsi is one of the best large-leaved varieties grown ; 
and the Hedgehog (I. ferox) is remarkable for its dense 
growth. Of the gold-margined varieties, Golden Queen 
and Caterer’s Gold Striped ; and of the silver mar¬ 
gined, Handsworth, and the rough-leaved.— R. D. 
-- 
H[otes from Scotland. 
--5-- 
Gardening and Forestry. 
In proposing the toast of “Success to the Royal 
Horticultural Society of Aberdeen,” at the annual 
dinner of the society, held on December 21st last, Mr. 
J. Murray-Garden, who presided, said :—Horticulture, 
which was the main object of that society’s operations, 
was an increasing and improving enterprise. It was an 
art, and it was also a science. The art of horticulture 
made no real progress until science was brought to bear 
upon it, and the results of the application of science to 
the art of horticulture had at the present time been 
most marvellous. It was very difficult to obtain 
reliable statistics on the subject, but he was very much 
struck to observe that -while during the past twenty 
years the population of this country had increased only 
i millions from 30 to 37 millions—the imports of 
the products of the market garden from foreign 
countries had increased from two millions and°a 
quarter to more than six millions of money every 
year. He did not think that that was a result to 
be applauded, because he fain would have seen that 
the demand for the products of the garden and orchard 
and forest had been made from our own soil. No 
doubt, the area in market garden cultivation had been 
doubled. Whereas there had been 36,000 acres twenty 
years ago, there were more than 62,000 acres under 
cultivation now; but still after all the supply fell far 
short of the demand. And it was not because the soil 
of this country was incapable of producing the food 
required for its inhabitants. The real reason was that 
the public of this country—the working classes in this 
country—had not given attention, had not directed 
their attention, to that industry as they ought to have 
done. He looked upon it as a very serious question for 
our country that the labour power was being congested 
in the large towns, and not spread abroad over the 
face of the country, for that would conduce to a healthy 
population, and would conduce to much that was good. 
French Market Gardening. 
If they looked to foreign countries they would be 
surprised at the results that were obtained from this 
industry. He could not take up time by giving them 
many of these results, but he should like to mention 
one, of which he recently read, and which showed to 
him what could be done by those who applied skill and 
industry to the work. In one of the market gardens 
adjoining Paris, extending to 2 7-10ths of an acre, 
there was a capital outlay of about £1,100 to provide 
glass and other appliances, including a steam-engine 
for watering. And what had been the result ? From 
that little plot of ground there was now raised annually 
about 250,000 lbs. of vegetables. The gross income 
had been about £800, and the profit, after deducting 
£100 a year for rent and taxes, had been between £200 
and £300. That showed what could be done. That 
little plot of ground had been worked by eight people 
and a horse. Now, let him take another example 
from our own country, and that was in reference to 
The Cultivation of Mushrooms. 
He took one single product out of hundreds. In one 
case where Mushrooms were cultivated the result had 
been as follows :—From one acre there had been grown, 
taking Mushrooms at an average price of Is. per lb., 
£1,450 worth in one year. The working expenses 
were nearly £500, and the profit was over £950. 
Let him give them one other instance of Mushroom 
cultivation. From one-sixteenth of an acre near Leeds 
upwards of 3,000 lbs. of Mushrooms were produced 
at the rate of £1,600 to the acre. It might be said 
it was all very well for him to quote these instances, 
because they were taken from France and from a 
warmer part of this country. But what did we require 
in order to rival such things as these ? Soil ? Climate ? 
"Well, those who knew practically what market 
gardening was, knew that soil was a thing that could 
be made, and that whatever was the primitive char¬ 
acter of the soil, the skill and the art of man could 
make it grow to such an extent, that from that very 
little plot in Paris which raised all that enormous 
weight of stuff the owner was able to sell 250 cubic 
yards of loam per annum. Taking the case of climate, 
these market gardeners had made fools of the climate. 
They built walls to reflect the heat and light of the 
sun, planted hedges and trees, took care of the 
exposure, and did everything to concentrate the heat ; 
and more than that, they had sent hot-air pipes 
through the soil itself, raising its temperature, and 
producing moisture by means of watering, thereby 
raising the productive power of the soil 100 times. 
They might say that that cculd not be done here, and 
certainly those who knew Aberdeen 200 years ago 
would have laughed at all those speculations. 
Aberdeen in 1685. 
One graphic description given in 1685 would bring 
up the picture to their minds. Old Parson Gordon, of 
Rothiemay, had written— “ The fields next the gate of 
the city are fruitful of corns, such as Oats, Bere and 
Wheat, and abound with pastures ; but anywhere after 
you pass a mile without the town the country is barren¬ 
like, the. hills craigy, the plains full of marshes and 
mosses, the fields are covered with Heathes or peeble 
stones, the cornfields mixed with these but few. ” If 
they walked a mile in a westerly direction from the 
Netherkirkgate they would find the ground covered 
with houses to begin with. If they told him that the 
soil and climate had to do with it, he did not see 
how that could be, or if it had, how was it that a man 
like his friend Mr. Cocker could grow such Roses as he 
did? This industry was capable of indefinite expansion; 
and what prevented the success of it in such a place as 
this, in his opinion, lay much in the difficulty of getting 
a market, and especially in the difficulty of transport. 
So long as railway rates for such products were so high, 
and so long as there were so many difficulties in getting 
the products of their garden sent to where the markets 
were, so long would this industry not be so profitable as 
it might be ; and it was one of the objects of that 
society to try to get over these disadvantages, to en¬ 
courage the cultivation of market gardening, and so to 
make this industry as profitable here as it was in so 
many other places ; for he did not for the life of him 
see why we should send six millions of money out of 
the country every year for things that we could grow 
ourselves if we had the industry, brains, and skill to 
grow them. 
Arboriculture. 
Regarding arboriculture, he said this had not been such 
a profitable industry as market gardening, and con¬ 
sequently during the last twenty years the area in 
nurseries had scarcely increased at all, and at the 
present moment there were only about 12,000 acres in 
cultivation. The cultivation of trees was one of the 
most delightful occupations that they could possibly 
indulge in, and this was a question also that ought to 
occupy their attention as one of national importance. 
He had ventured to give a hint to Mr. Esslemont before 
he left that he would touch on this, because he looked 
to him and other influential legislators to help them in 
raising forestry to the rank in this country that it 
ought to have. In Germany they had 30 per cent, of 
the area of that great Empire in wood ; they had a 
Forestry Department of the State ; they had trees 
cultivated in rotation as if they were crops ; they had 
a vast army of scientific men trained in efficient colleges 
devoted to that purpose alone. If they went to France, 
they would find the same thing on a smaller scale. He 
should have mentioned Austria, where 30 per cent, -was 
under wood. 
In this country we had not got four per cent, of the 
country under wood, and he was perfectly satisfied that 
if the Government were to take the question up—if 
instead of quarrying, as they always did, down to the 
foundations of the Constitution to see what like they 
were, if in place of constantly amending the legislative 
machine, they were to take the machine they had, 
and set to work to adorn and beautify the face 
of the earth, they would do a great deal more 
good than by constantly talking of more men and 
more votes. Scotland at one time was not so far back, 
and Parliament in former times did pay some 
attention to this question—to the forestry of the 
country. So long ago as 1457 the landowners were 
ordered to plant trees and to sow Broom. Sixty years 
later Parliament had to record, in 1503, that the wood 
of Scotland was entirely destroyed, and a fine of £5 was 
imposed on anyone who dared to cut a tree. Thirty 
years later apparently this deterrent or coercive 
measure had not the desired effect, and a more specific 
order was issued to landowners who possessed a certain 
size of estate, to plant no less than three acres yearly, 
while the penalty for the third offence for cutting a tree 
was death. In 1661 the last legislation on the subject 
took place. A larger area was required to be planted 
by landowners, and as an inducement for them to do so, 
the land so planted was free from taxation for nineteen 
years. From that day to this there was not another 
Act of Parliament on the subject. 
Our own colonies had got before us in this matter. 
The destruction of forests in Victoria and New Zealand 
had awakened the attention of the Colonial Legislatures, 
and Acts for the encouragement of planting were passed, 
bonuses being given ; schools of forestry were estab¬ 
lished, the further cutting of timber had been stopped ; 
and in place of cutting, planting went on. He did 
not see why our Legislature should not take up this 
subject again, and why they should not spend money 
in establishing schools of forestry, and in promoting 
the planting of waste lauds. There were vast ranges of 
land that could be planted with the utmost benefit, and 
without injury to sport. The trees were always growing, 
and did not give any trouble, and the leases did not 
expire, and they did not require to make a new bargain 
with them, and they never asked for any abatement, 
and fifty or sixty years after they were planted there 
was a rich harvest to be reaped by those who were 
fortunate enough to be then the owner. But therein 
lay the difficulty, because one man sowed and another 
man reaped. Another aspect of this question was 
this, that if they could create a profitable industry 
they would provide healthy employment to an enormous 
number of working men going at that moment in the 
towns with their hands in their pockets. Our social 
system had come to this, that unless new outlets were 
found for the labour of the country, there would be 
serious danger to the Commonwealth. 
