THE POETRY OF FLOWERS 
92 
grow in the forest of Needwood bear leaves bristling with 
thorns to the height of eight or ten feet, and above this height 
the leaves cease to be thorny. There the plant has no need to 
arm itself against enemies which cannot reach it. This tree, 
with its dazzling verdure, is the last ornament of our forests, 
when they are despoiled by the winter’s frosts and chilling 
blasts; its berries serve as food for the little birds which remain 
with us through the inclement season of winter; and it also 
offers them a comfortable shelter amid its foliage. 
In that delightful work, “ Jesse’s Gleanings in Natural His¬ 
tory,” the eloquent author, speaking of the holly, says: “ The 
economy of trees, plants, and vegetables, is a curious subject of 
inquiry, and in all of them we may trace the hand of a benefi¬ 
cent Creator. The same care which he has bestowed on his 
creatures is extended to plants; this is remarkably the case with 
respect to hollies; the edges of the leaves are provided with 
strong sharp spines, as high up as they are within the reach 
of cattle; above that height the leaves are generally smooth, 
the protecting spines being no longer necessary.” 
0 reader! hast thou ever stood to see 
The holly-tree? 
The eye that contemplates it well perceives 
Its glossy leaves; 
Ordered by an Intelligence so wise 
As might confound an atheist’s sophistries. 
Below a circling fence, its leaves are seen, 
Wrinkled and keen; 
No grazing cattle through their prickly round 
Can reach to wound; 
But, as they grow where nothing is to fear, 
Smooth and unarmed the pointless leaves appear. 
Southey. 
