the following winter, and the roots will be
seen striking inwards to the centre of the
branch.

Pliny tells us of many superstitions concerning
the holly, saying, in the words of his translator,
"As touching the holly, or hulver-tree, if
it be planted about a house, whether it be within
a citie or standing in the country, it serveth
for a counter-charm, and keepeth away all ill
spells and enchantments." Among the other
remarkable things connected with the plant, the
Roman naturalist relates that its flowers cause
water to freeze, and repel poison, while, if a
staff of holly wood is thrown at any animal, even
if it falls short of touching it, the animal will be
subdued by its influence, returning and lying
down by it.

The Persians still fancy that the holly-tree
casts no shadow, and consider an infusion of its
leaves precious enough to be applied to many
sacred purposes. They also sprinkle them on
the faces of new-born infants.

The custom of decking houses and churches
with holly-boughs, is one of great antiquity,
being derived, most probably, from the Roman
practice of sending branches of trees to friends
during the festival of the Saturnalia. In many
instances, customs of this kind were gradually
adopted by the early Christians, and linked into
their faith. Houses and temples were then
decorated with holly, and Christmas-eve was marked
in the Calendar as "Churches are decked."

The holly was formerly called holme, and hulver,
or hulfere. The word holly is a corruption
of holy-tree, the name given to it by the monks
on account of its old use of decking churches.
The plant is still called holme in Devonshire,
while in Norfolk it is called hulver, a name as
old as Chaucer's poems, and doubtless much
older:

        The herbere was full of flowers gende,
         Into the which as I beholde 'gan
         Betwixt an hulfere and a woodbende,
         As I was ware, I saw where lay a man.

Skinner suggests that this name is either from
the English word " hold" and the Anglo-Saxon
"fear long," a plant lasting long, or from " hold
fair," because it keeps its beauty all the year.
The holly is called in French, le houx; in
German, the stechpalme; in Italian, the
agrifoglio, and in Spanish, the acebo; the two last
and the Latin specific name, aquifolium, signifying
needle-leaved.

The holly is a native of the woods and forests
of Britain. The numerous varieties of gold and
silver, blotched, whole, notched, sawlike, hairy,
bristly, broad, narrow, and thick-leaved, and
yellow-berried, are beautifully ornamental,
especially in winter, when a large holly-tree covered
with a profusion of bright scarlet berries is
certainly the queen of the woodland.

Holly has always been used for making
fences, for, besides being ornamental, it is more
durable than any other tree for the purpose. A
hedge of holly will attain the height of sixteen
feet in about twenty years. In Bretagne, holly-trees
are often to be seen fifty feet in height,
and Bradley records that some of those at the
Holly-walk, near Frensham, in Surrey, have
attained the height of even sixty feet; while
old hollies, thirty or forty feet high, with very
large trunks, are to be found in various parts of
this country. In the woods of Dumbartonshire
there are trees more than thirty feet high, and
the holly-trees of Needwood Forest, in Staffordshire,
have long been renowned for size and
beauty. Evelyn's holly-hedge at Say's Court,
which the Czar of Muscovy destroyed during
his temporary residence there, was a source of
innocent delight to its owner, and Bishop Mant
thus refers to it:

       And such, was once thy holly wall,
       Good Evelyn, thick, extended, tall.
       Thy hands disposed the seedlings fair;
       They throve beneath thy fostering care;
       Four hundred feet in length they throve,
       Thrice three they rose in height above,
       Glittering with arm'd and varnish'd leaves,
       Secure 'gainst weather, beasts, and thieves;
       Blushing with native coral red,
       Refreshment and delight they shed.

Beautiful holly-hedges yet remain, which might
vie with this renowned one. At Tymingham,
in Scotland, the seat of the Earl of Haddington,
there is a holly-hedge a hundred and thirty years
old, two thousand nine hundred and fifty-two
yards in length, varying from ten to twenty-five
feet in height, with a base from nine to thirteen
feet broad. The holly will thrive in places
where the bleak winds would destroy every
other tree. And many a hardy holly is scattered
over moorlands such as Dartmoor, or some
bleak Highland hill, where human hand could
never have planted it, and serves as a beacon to
the mariner at sea or the traveller over pathless
wilds. On the lofty cliffs near the old Castle of
Dover, and in the graveyard of the church where
our forefathers worshipped when the Gospel was
first brought to Britain, a holly-tree has been
planted in memory of the Iron Duke. And long
after the generation who placed it there are laid
beneath the sod, the tree will probably survive
in all its greenness, though on that bleak spot
scarcely any other tree could brave the storms
coming with the winter from land and sea. The
abundant growth of holly has given the name of
Holme Chase to a part of Dartmoor, and to
Holmwood, near Dorking.

Holly sticks are used for whip handles, and
this use seems very ancient, for an old writer says:

      They their holly whips have braced;

and far earlier we find Chaucer referring to

      The bilder oke, and eke the hardie ashe,
      The box, pipetre, the holme to whippes lash.

Sheep browse on the leaves of the holly, and
Linnaeus explained the fact of the lower branches
bearing thorny leaves, and the upper branches
bearing smooth leaves, by supposing that the
thorns were the tree's natural protection from
cattle. Southey has repeated this error in
verse:

   Below, a circling fence, its leaves are seen
   Wrinkled and keen,