THE HOLLY.

"Yes, the poor bird you nursed, shall find
"Destruction in the rifled rind,"

THOUGH Scarcely deserving the name of a tree, the holly forms a beautiful appendage to the forest, by its ever-shining green leaves, and the coral fruit that throws a richness around; and its wood, though slow of growth, is valuable for warves for spindles, handles for joiner's tools, blocks for printers, and, indeed, all turner's work. Like the yew, it is frequently cut into fantastic shapes, which no where ornament a scene. Of the rind of the holly, bird-lime is made. Evelyn speaks of a hedge composed of this plant, in a most enthusiastic manner; but the formality of the clipt hedge in pleasure-grounds, is now nearly abandoned. On farms, indeed, in cold stony land, a hedge of holly, consisting of plants of three or four years growth, transplanted early in autumn, may be rendered so impenetrable as to keep out all sorts of animals. It will grow upon most soils.

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THIS plant is an excellent underwood for oak, and no one is ignorant of the pleasant fruit it produces. Dry ground and light greatly encourage its growth, and the charcoal, and hoops produced from it, are much esteemed. The great shelter it affords, and the picturesque manner of its growth, are well calculated to break the formal outline of ornamental plantations.

H

THE ELDER.

THE elder possesses the peculiar property of flourishing better than any other tree, under the drip and shade of others. The berry it produces makes an excellent wine, famous for its medicinal qualities, and the wood of it furnishes skewers for the butcher. It likes a good soil, and is by no means destitute of ornament. This tree is deserving of more attention than it usually meets.

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APPENDIX.

As it may be the wish of many who make annual plantations, to raise their trees from the seed-bed, I have deemed it expedient to subjoin some little information on that subject, procured chiefly from experienced nursery-men. To begin with the oak:-The acorns should be collected when perfectly ripe (as all other seeds, in dry weather), from well grown trees, and sowed in the autumn, and should remain two years after their being transplanted into beds four feet broad, with walks of eighteen inches; the plants to be six inches apart, and the rows nine inches asunder. It will answer well, to let the rows point north and south, for when this precaution is not observed, the trees that stand foremost often grow more luxuriantly, and debar the others from an equal share of the sun. The keys of the ash to be sown in autumn; they will remain one whole year in the ground before they seem to vegetate, and will appear the following spring, when they should be transplant

ed, and in one year become good plants, and ready for their final destination. It will be almost needless to observe, that weeding constantly is essentially necessary for the welfare of the plant, and a hoe should be made, calculated to the space between the rows. Larch seeds, and all the fir tribe, to be sown in spring,although nature by shedding the seed of every tree in autumn, seems to point out the proper season for propogation, Larch may be transplanted, as before described, and removed according to the progress made, Sycamore and beech seeds should be sown late in spring, that vermin may havea shorter opportunity of regaling upon them. The poplar and willow cuttings answer best from two year old wood, and cut in a bud each way at the bottom, and one cut at the top in a sloping direction, just leaving a bud below. As the frost frequently lifts cuttings set in autumn in the seedling bed out of the ground, it may, perhaps, answer to place them (about nine inches long), in the ground all winter, (in the manner plants are, when taken up before they can be set), and in the spring to put them six inches deep in the bed, at the distance before