FORESIGHT. 
109 
fol plant. The great hollies which 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 in¬ 
clement season of winter ; and it also offers 
them a comfortable shelter amid its foliage. 
In that delightful work, Jesse’s Gleanings 
in Natural History, 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 beneficent Creator; the 
same care which he has bestowed on his crea¬ 
tures is extended to plants; this is remark¬ 
ably 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.” 
Mr. Southey has noticed this circum¬ 
stance in the following pretty lines: 
O reader ! hast thou ever stood to see 
The holly tree ? 
