264 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
December 24, 1898. 
INTS FOR MMATEURS. 
THE HOLLY. 
*• And, therefore, do they deck their walls with 
green ; 
There shines the Holly bough with berries red ; 
There, too, the Yule-log’s cheerful blaze is seen 
Around it genial warmth and light to shed. 
Round it are happy faces, smiles that spread 
A feeling of enjoyment calm and pure, 
A sense of happiness home born, home bred, 
Whose influence shall unchangeably endure.” 
In his long and devious march through the cen¬ 
turies man has associated with his fortunes, for good 
or ill, numbers of plants of all descriptions. In 
some cases the reasons for this close association are 
obvious, for the plants themselves furnish man, their 
master, with some of the necessities or luxuries of 
life. At other times it is not at all clear what were 
the first causes that brought about the connection. 
Some plants, as, for instance, the Mistleto, became 
famous by reason of certain occult powers that they 
were supposed to possess, for early man probably 
had his veneration for the mystic bough very largely 
tinged with fear. Other plants, and in this category 
we may place the Holly, have no such sinister 
record, but have been singled out by mao either 
from strictly utilitarian motives, or because of some 
sentiment or emotion that they aroused in his breast. 
We are not always able to trace the rise and pro¬ 
gress of such sentimental connections, but the fact 
remains that there have been bequeathed to us 
many curious customs illustrative of them that we 
still blindly carry out, simply because it has been 
the custom to do so, and not because we ourselves 
have any special reason. 
The Holly has not passed unscathed through the 
superstitions of the centuries, for certain occult in¬ 
fluences are accredited to it. Thus the ancient 
Persians believed that the tree cast no shadow, and 
they used to brew decoctions from its leaves which 
were employed in various religious rites. It was 
also considered advisable by them to sprinkle the 
face of a new-born infant with this infusion of 
Holly leaves, probably with a view to drive away 
evil spirits. 
Pliny, too, has something to say about the Holly. 
According to his translator the words run—"As 
touching the Holly or Hulver tree if it be planted 
about a house, whether it be within a citie or stand¬ 
ing in the country, it serveth for a counter charm, 
and keepeth away all ill spells and enchantments.” 
He says also that “ its flowers cause water to freeze, 
and it repels poison, while if a staff of its wood be 
thrown to any animal, even if it falls short of touching 
it, the animal will be so subdued by its influence that 
it will return and lie down by it.” Clearly the 
counter spell of the Holly, whether holy or unholy, 
must have been powerful. Parkinson relates this 
legend in his quaint phraseolog y, but he evidently 
had some misgivings concerning its validity, for he 
adds, "This I here relate that you may understand the 
fond and vain conceit of those times, which I would 
to God we were not in these days tainted withall.” 
There is a tradition that Holly was the burning 
bush in which Jehovah appeared to Moses, and this 
is mentioned by Dr. Brewer in his Dictionary of 
Phrase and Fable, but the idea was rather obscurCj 
and Dever became popular. 
The splendid decorative qualities of the Holly, with 
its rich, glossy green sheen of foliage, and its cluster¬ 
ing, coral-red berries were undoubtedly the cause of 
its being regarded with such high favour in the past. 
The practice of decking houses and temples with 
evergreens is one of great antiquity, and the priests 
of old were not slow to take advantage of the Holly 
for the purpose during festal seasons. The Teutonic 
nations of the great Aryan race have from time 
immemorial held high festival at the season of 
Yule, and Holly has had an honoured place at these 
festivities, whilst amongst the nations of the Italic 
branch of the same race the pagan Romans used to 
send to each other branches of Holly during the festi¬ 
val of the Saturnalia, which occurred at the same 
season of the year as Yule, these branches being em¬ 
blematic of good wishes for the health and well-being 
of the recipients. As the ages rolled on, and the 
worship of Odin and Thor was renounced for that c f 
the White Christ, the rejoicings were still held, but 
now under the auspicies, and with the sanction of, 
the Christian priesthood. 
We find, too, that Christmas Eve was marked in 
the Calendar as Templa exornantur, obviously bearing 
reference to the fixed practice of adorning the 
temples. 
From being employed so constantly in the decora¬ 
tion of places of worship, the plant came to be known 
as the Holy-tree, and the name " Holly ” is pro¬ 
bably a corruption of this. 
Our forefathers, however, did not intend that the 
priesthood should have the monopoly of the " Holy- 
tree,” and so when, to quote the words of the old 
ballad, 
" Christmastide came in like a bride 
With Holly and Ivy clad.” 
They decked their own houses as well as the tem¬ 
ples with the beautiful evergreen, and reverting to 
the customs of their forefathers, the "Holy-tree" 
was made to officiate at all sorts of social func¬ 
tions. 
" On Christmas Eve the bells were rung ; 
On Christmas Eve the mass was sung ; 
The only night in all the year 
Saw the stoled priest the chalice rear. 
The damsel donn’d her kirtle green, 
The hall was dressed with Holly green.”— 
(Old Ballad.) 
For there were gay doings to come, and the 
" kirtle green" was probably donned for these. 
The big " kissing-buneb," composed of evergreens 
of all descriptions, but more particularly Holly and 
Mistleto, was an important institution at such 
times, when the Christmas festivities were 
ushered in with such quaint old ballads as " The 
Folk’s Song.” : — 
When me an’ my folks 
Come to see you an' your folks, 
Let you an’ your folks 
Treat me and my folks 
As kind as me an’ my folks 
Treated you an’ your folks 
When you an’ your folks 
Came to see me an’ my folks 
Since then never were such folks 
Since folks were folks. 
This song was sung on Christmas Eve in North 
Notts, fifty years ago, and the practice is probably not 
yet extinct in the more rural parts of the lace county. 
Shakespeare refers to the Holly in " As You Like 
It,” Act II., Sc. 7, in the following words :— 
Heigh ho, sing heigh ho, unto the green Holly ; 
Most friendship is feigning, most loving is folly. 
Then heigh ho the Holly ; 
This life is most jolly. 
A curious rivalry is said to have existed between 
the Holly and the Ivy, for we are told that 
" Holly and Ivy made a great party 
Who should have the mastery 
In lands where they go.” 
And there is a well known carol of the time of 
Henry VI. which tells of the battle between the two, 
and the ultimate victory of the Holly. There are 
eight stanzas in the carol, the last four running 
thus:— 
Holy he hath berys as redde as any Rose 
The foresters, the hunters, keep them from the does. 
Ivy she hath berys as black as any slo ; 
There come the owle and ete hem as she goo ; 
Holy hath byrdys a full fayre flok, 
The nightingale, the poppyngy, the gayntyle lavyrock 
Gude Ivy, say to us, what byrdys has thou 
None but the owlett that cryes how ! how ! 
In comparatively recent times the custom has been 
to take down the Christmas decorations on the 
morniog of January 7th, or the 8th if the 7th fall on 
a Sunday, the practice being stimulated by the com¬ 
forting little legend that if it were not done the forest 
sprites would have power to vex the inmates of the 
house. Formerly it was the practice, forest sprites 
or no, to leave up the decorations in both dwelling 
houses and church until Candlemas day, when the 
instructions were:— 
“ Instead of Holly now upraise 
The greener Box for show. 
The Holly hitherto did sway 
Let Box now domineer.” 
The " crooked Yew ” in its turn was to succeed the 
Box after the latter had " held sway ” for its allotted 
time, and so on throughout the year until it came 
once more to the turn of the Holly and the Mistleto. 
Another quaint superstition connected with the 
Holly is recorded by Anne Pratt in that charming 
work, The Flowering Plants of Great Britain. It is 
stated that the people of Italy believe that the plant 
when growing wild indicates the presence of alum in 
the soil, and Evelyn says that coals might often be 
found where the Holly grows. It appears that a 
certain John di Castro employed alum in dyeing 
cloth " and having observed that the Holly grew 
plentifully in the alumine parts of Asia, he was 
induced when seeing much of this plant In the 
neighbourhood of Jolfa to search there for this salt." 
We are told further that John di Castro was success¬ 
ful in his quest, and that his discovery led to the 
erection of the first alum works in modern Europe, 
which were established at Jolfa under the patronage 
of Pius II. This was most probably the origin of the 
legend about the Holly and alum.— A. S. Galt. 
(To be continued). 
Corres pondence. 
Questions asked by amateurs on any subject pertaining 
to gardens or gardening will be answered on this page 
A nyone may give additional or more explanatory answers 
to questions that have already appeared. Those who desire 
their communications to appear on this page should write 
"Amateurs' Page " on the top of their letters. 
Forcing House.— Chingford : If you have a suffi¬ 
ciency of fermenting material at hand we should 
certainly advise you to fill up the bed in the Melon 
house with it. You will find that the plants will 
push along very much more quickly if their pots are 
plunged in the litter. Moreover, the heat sent out. 
by the latter will help to keep up the temperature of 
the house, and there will not be the necessity for so 
much fire-heat. You will find that a mixture of 
two-thirds of leaves and one of stable litter will be the 
best, as the heat generated is not too fierce, and is 
steady. If too much stable litter is used the bed Is 
apt to get too hot for a while, but exhausts itself 
very soon, whilst leaves are too slow in heatiDg, and 
not warm enough. In filling up the bed tread it 
down very firmly, so as to minimise subsequent 
shrinking as much as possible. 
Echetrerias. —X : You will find that the Ecbe- 
verias will pass through the winter well enough in 
the cold frames if you keep them dry at the root. 
They will not want any water, and you must keep 
the lights on during wet weather. If severe frost 
supervenes you must throw a mat or some dry straw 
over the frame, but in mild weather the frame will 
prove sufficient protection if you keep the plants 
dry. 
Hyacinths in a North Window.— Amateur: The 
Hyacinths would not be likely to bloom if kept for 
the whole of the time in a north window, where 
they would not receive any sun. A north window is 
not a good place for flowering plants, although it 
answers fairly well when the plants are grown on 
to the flowering stage in other quarters, and taken 
into the window when in bloom. If you can follow 
the same plan with your Hyacinths they will do very 
well, but not otherwise. 
Soil for Yine Border.—A good compost for your 
Vine border may be made as follows :—Let the staple 
consist of good mellow loam, the top spit from an 
old pasture being preferable, if it can be obtained. 
In any case avoid using loam in which shrubs and 
trees have been growing for some years, for such 
loam is of a very poor and hungry nature. Old 
lime rubbish and broken bricks should form about 
one-sixth- of the whole for loam of fairly heavy 
nature. Half-inch bones may be added at the rate of 
twenty-eight pounds per cubic yard of soil. A sprink¬ 
ling of bone dust and charcoal may also be added, but 
these ingredients are not of great importance if the 
loam is in good condition chemically and mechani¬ 
cally. Mix the whole well together by repeated 
turnings. 
Planting Lilies.—Will you tell me the best time 
and also the latest for planting the bulbs of the 
following Lilies :—L. lancifolium, L. auratum, and 
L. longiflorum ?— Thos. Bate. 
You do not say whether you intend to grow the 
Lilies in pots or out of doers. In both cases the 
bulbs should be potted up as soon as they are 
received from the bulb merchant, as if left out of 
the soil for too long they become greatly weakened, 
for the fleshy scales which compose them become 
flaccid, and some of them wither. If you have not 
obtained your bulbs you should do so at once. 
Planting out of doors may be conducted whenever 
the weather is fine and the soil is not wet or frozen. 
From 4 in. to 6 in., according to the size of the bulbs, 
is a good depth for planting. A good mulching of 
rotten manure may be given after planting, and then 
no matter what the temperature the bulbs will pass 
