578 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER.  December  27, 
Tlie  mistletoe. 
Some  two  months  before  this  Christmas  I  received  a  letter  from  a 
young  friend  in  New  Zealand  begging  earnestly  for  a  piece  of  Mistletoe. 
Though  the  young  rascal  professed  to  want  it  as  an  object  of  curiosity, 
I  have  ^ave  suspicions  that  his  motives  were  of  a  more  utilitarian 
nature,  and  that  in  a  case  of  especial  difficulty  he  contemplated  trying 
to  acclimatise  in  New  Zealand  the  good  old  English  custom.  Where 
traditional  usage  has  not  attached  to  any  plant  such  attributes  as  those 
conceded  to  the  Mistletoe  in  England,  young  men  are  compelled  to  ask  for 
what  many  here  are  still  privileged 
to  take  by  force.  But  in  England 
also  it  looks  as  if  the  talismanic 
properties  of  the  Mistletoe  would 
soon  cease  and  unlicensed  kissing 
become  tabooed.  Possibly  at  the 
children’s  parties  of  to-day  there 
may  be  a  little  surreptitious  oscula¬ 
tion,  but  with  modern  smartness 
and  Jin-de-siecleism  the  custom 
appears  to  have  forsaken  even  our 
children’s  circles.  Whether  young 
ladies  are  more  squeamish,  or 
whether  they  are  averse  to  kissing 
which  is  futile  of  marriage,  and 
only  suffer  it  when  it  strictly 
indicates  “  business,”  we  know  not. 
Probably  a  good  many  of  ns  are 
getting  too  old  to  be  worth  kissing, 
and  hence  these  tears  and  lamenta¬ 
tions  over  the  decadence  of  the 
age.  However,  even  old  fogies  can 
contemplate  the  Mistletoe  from  a 
horticultural  and  unsentimental  point 
of  view,  and  now  that  Christmastide 
is  upon  us  seems  an  opportune 
moment  for  its  consideration. 
The  Mistletoe  is  so  well  known 
that  I  shall  not  render  it  unrecog¬ 
nisable  by  mentioning  that  its 
botanical  name  is  Viscum  album, 
and  that  it  belongs  to  the  family 
Loranthacese.  Life  is  much  coloured 
by  the  teachings  of  childhood,  and 
one  of  my  earliest  botanical  lessons 
was  that  the  Mistletoe  grew  upon 
the  Oak,  and  was  cut  at  Christmas- 
tide  by  the  Druids  with  golden 
sickles.  Nowadays  it  does  not 
ordinarily  grow  upon  the  Oak,  but 
upon  the  Apple,  Crab,  or  Thorn. 
Indeed,  in  England  so  rarely  does 
the  Mistletoe  grow  upon  the  Oak, 
that  it  has  been  concluded  that  the 
Druids  prized  it  for  that  very 
reason.  Another  supposition  is 
that  in  olden  times,  when  great 
forests  of  Oak  extended  over  the 
West  of  England,  the  climate  was 
more  damp  and  favourable  to  the  development  of  Mistletoe  upon  it. 
In  addition  to  the  above-named  trees  Mistletoe  will  grow  upon  the  Lime 
and  the  Poplar,  and  it  is  said  that  it  has  even  been  found  ffonrishing 
upon  a  Gooseberry  bush. 
The  Mistletoe  has  what  is  called  a  parasitic  habit — that  is,  it  does 
not  take  root  in  the  ground,  but  upon  some  other  tree,  which  it  saps  of 
its  juices  and  ultimately  kills.  In  Herefordshire  the  Apple  orchards 
are  infested  with  it,  the  only  compensation  for  its  ravages  being  the 
profit  made  upon  its  sale  in  London  during  the  Christmas  season.  The 
best  way  of  propagating  the  plant  is  by  sticking  the  viscous  seeds  in 
the  middle  of  the  bark  of  the  under  side  of  an  Apple  branch.  It  grows 
from  there  with  its  head  downwards,  the  stems  sometimes  reaching  to 
the  thickness  of  a  broomstick.  The  only  care  to  be  taken  is  that  birds 
do  not  carry  off  the  seed.  Some  cut  a  notch  for  the  seed,  but  this  is 
not  necessary.  The  sexes  of  the  plant  are  distinct,  the  male  flowers- 
being  in  clusters  of  four  or  five,  and  the  female  ones  solitary.  The 
virtues  of  the  Mistletoe  are  not  so  great  that  it  is  ever  likely  to  be 
fashionable  as  a  cultivated  plant ;  but  it  has  been  associated  with  our 
Christmas  festivities  from  time  immemorial,  and  both  for  that  reason 
and  on  account  of  its  peculiar  habit  it  is  not  unworthy  of  illustration  in 
the  present  number  of  the  Jov/rnal  of  Horticulture. 
The  specimen  (fig.  150)  was  grown  in  Mr.  Van  Geert’s  nursery  at 
Antwerp.  It  was  produced  by  establishing  the  Mistletoe  from  seeds 
placed  on  the  under  side  of  the  branches  of  young  Thorn  trees.  When 
the  'J'horn  growths  were  suppressed  the  Mistletoe  dwindled.  It  is 
established  on  young  Apple  trees 
by  Messrs.  Smith  &  Co.,  Worcester. 
— Bacca. 
- - 
mistletoe  and  Holly. 
To  all  intents  and  purposes  it 
may  be  said  that  none  of  the 
Mistletoe  which  is  sold  in  London 
at  Christmas  is  English.  Those 
who  have  visited  Paris,  travelling 
by  the  Newhaven  and  Dieppe  route, 
will  hardly  have  failed  to  notice 
how  plentifully  it  grows  in  Nor¬ 
mandy,  showing  at  this  season  as 
rounded  masses  of  foliage  on  the 
branches  of  Poplars  and  Elms  that 
are  otherwise  bare.  The  supply  for 
the  London  market  comes  from  here 
and  from  round  about  Paris.  Large 
quantities  are  grown  on  the  coast 
and  sent  direct  to  other  large  towns, 
such  as  Cardiff  and  Liverpool. 
London  takes  about  three  times  as 
much  as  Paris,  where  Mistletoe  is 
often  considerably  higher  in  price 
than  it  is  here.  At  the  present 
moment,  for  example,  the  difference 
is  one  of  about  50  per  cent.  The 
present  year  is  a  good  one  for 
Mistletoe,  and  this  probably  means 
that  there  will  be  a  large  supply, 
for  it  must  be  remembered  that 
every  bush  of  Mistletoe  is  a  small 
tree,  which  may  be  as  much  as  ten 
years  old.  The  growers  naturally 
consult  the  market,  and  if  prices 
are  low  they  give  the  bushes 
another  year  of  life  in  the  hope 
that  when  Christmas  comes  again 
the  market  will  be  more  favourable. 
In  England  there  is  no  demand 
for  Mistletoe  until  just  before  Christ¬ 
mas,  and  if  it  were  to  make  its 
appearance  earlier  it  would  be  quite 
unsaleable.  In  Paris  there  is  a 
difference,  and  the  bushes  are  cut  to 
a  considerable  extent  as  soon  as  the  berries  have  ripened.  The  bushes 
come  to  Covent  Garden  vi§,  Boulogne  and  Newhaven,  and  are  carefully 
packed  in  crates  weighing  one  or  two  hundredweight  each.  It  is 
interesting  to  learn  that  considerable  quantities  of  Mistletoe  are 
exported  from  Dieppe  to  New  York,  and  thence  distributed  throughout 
the  United  States,  in  which  country  the  lovers  of  the  old-fashioned 
Christmas  are  willing  to  pay  for  it  very  heavily  indeed. 
The  Holly  Trade. 
Holly  is,  of  course,  much  cheaper  than  Mistletoe,  and  the  only  place 
from  which  it  is  imported  is  Guernsey,  which  sends  a  small  quantity  to 
London.  Very  little  Holly  gets  to  Covent  Garden  direct.  Gardeners 
or  farmers  who  have  hedges  of  this  kind  trim  them  and  make  faggots, 
which  they  send  by  the  truck-load  to  Nine  Elms.  Also,  there  are 
enterprising  people  who  make  it  their  business  to  scour  the  country 
Fig.  150. — Standard  Misxletoe. 
