Woodland Gleanings Part 8

From these they thrive very well, the shoots being of the scantling of small wands and switches, or somewhat larger, and such as have divers hairy twigs, which are not to be disbranched, any more than their roots, unless by a very discreet hand. Thus, a copse of Hazels being planted about autumn, may be cut the next spring within three or four inches of the ground, when new shoots will soon grow up in cl.u.s.ters, and in tufts of fair poles of twenty, or sometimes thirty feet long. Evelyn, however, recommends that these offsets should be allowed to grow two or three years, until they have taken strong hold, when they may be cut close to the very earth, the feeble ones especially. The rate of growth, under favourable circ.u.mstances, is from one to two feet for the first two or three years after planting; after which, if trained to a single stem, the tree grows slower, attaining the height of about twelve feet in ten years, and never growing much higher, unless drawn up by other trees. It is seldom, however, allowed to grow to maturity, being usually cut down before that period.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE HOLLY-TREE.]

THE HOLLY-TREE.

[_Ilex._[H] Nat. Ord.--_Aquifoliaceae_; Linn.--_Tetram. Tetrag._]

[H] _Ilex._ Calyx inferior, 4 or 5-toothed, persistent. Corolla rotate, 4 or 5-cleft. Stigmas 4, sessile, or nearly so; distinct or united.

Fruit a spherical berry, 4-celled, each cell 1-seeded. Flowers sometimes polygamous.

Above all the evergreens which enrich our landscapes, there is none to be compared to the common Holly, _I. aquifolium_. This was a favourite plant with Evelyn. It grew spontaneously and luxuriantly near his own residence in Surrey, in a vale anciently called Holmes' Dale, and famous for the flight of the Danes; he expresses his wonder that Britons seek so eagerly after foreign plants, and at a vast expense, while they neglect the culture of this incomparable tree, whether it be cultivated for utility or ornament. He speaks in raptures of it: "Is there under heaven a more glorious and refreshing object of the kind, than an impenetrable hedge, of about four hundred feet in length, nine feet high, and five in diameter, which I can show in my gardens at Say's Court, Deptford, at any time of the year, glittering with its armed and varnished leaves; the taller standards at orderly distances, blushing with their natural coral."

The leaves of the common Holly are ovate, acute, spinous, wavy, th.o.r.n.y, and shining; the lower leaves being very spinous, while the upper ones, especially on old trees, are entire. The flowers are white, appearing in May, and the berries, which are red, ripen in September, and remain on the tree all the winter.

Gilpin remarks that the Holly can hardly be called a tree, though it is a large shrub, and a plant of singular beauty; but he cannot accord with the learned naturalist (Evelyn) in the whole of his rapturous encomium on his hedge at Say's Court. He recommends it, not as a hedge, but to be planted in a forest, where, mixed with oak, or ash, or other trees of the wood, it contributes to form the most beautiful scenes; blending itself with the trunks and skeletons of the winter, or with the varied greens of summer. And as far as an individual bush can be beautiful, the Holly is extremely so. It has, besides, to recommend it, that it is among the hardiest and stoutest plants of English growth. It thrives in all soils, and in all situations. At Dungeness, in Kent, it flourishes even among the pebbles of the beach. It abounds, more or less, in the remains of all aboriginal forests, and perhaps, at present, it prevails nowhere to a greater extent than in the remains of Needwood Forest, in Staffordshire; there are likewise many fine trees in the New Forest, in Hampshire. It is also abundant on the banks of the river Findhorn, in Aberdeenshire; but it is not very common in Ireland, except about the lakes of Killarney, where it attains a large size.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Leaves, Flowers, and Berries of _I. aquifolium._]

Why Gilpin should hesitate about considering the Holly a tree, we are at a loss to conceive, as it grows to the height of thirty feet, and, under cultivation, to sixty feet or upwards, and yields timber of considerable value. Being the whitest of all hard woods, it is useful for inlaying, especially under thin plates of ivory, rendering the latter more conspicuous; and also for veneering. It is much used by the turner and mathematical instrument maker, and for handles for the best riding-rods, &c.

The Holly is a very valuable plant for fences; it is seldom attacked by insects, and, if shorn, becomes so impenetrable that birds cannot obtain access thereto to build their nests. On these accounts it is particularly valuable to the farmer for hedges; the chief objection to it for this purpose is, the slowness of its growth while young, and the difficulty of transplanting the plants when grown to a moderate size.

Mr. Sang says, that Holly hedges are the best for making durable fences, and afford the greatest degree of shelter, especially during the winter months; no plant endures the shears better than the Holly; a hedge of it may be carried to a great height, and consequently it is well fitted for situations where strength and shelter are required; it luxuriates most in a rich sandy loam, although there are few soils in which it will not grow. After planting, the Holly makes but indifferent progress for a few years; but after it becomes established in the ground, or about the third or fourth year after planting, no fence whatever will outgrow the Holly. "I have seen hedges," says Evelyn, "or stout walls, of Holly, twenty feet high, kept upright, and the gilded sort budded low; and in two or three places one above another, shorn and fashioned into columns and pilasters, architecturally shaped, and at due distance; than which nothing can possibly be more pleasant, the berry adorning the intercolumniations with scarlet festoons and encarpa." The employment of the Holly at Christmas for ornamenting churches and dwelling-houses, is believed to have come down to us from the Druids, who made use of it in their religious ceremonies. The name Holly is supposed to be a corruption of the word _holy_, as Dr. Turner, one of the earliest English writers on plants, calls it holy, and holy tree, which appellation was probably given to it on account of its use in holy places; the German name, Christdorn, the Danish name, Christorn, and the Swedish name, Christtorn, seem to justify this conjecture. It is also styled Holy in a carol written in its praise in the time of Henry VI., preserved in the Harleian MSS., No. 5396, and printed in Loudon's _Arboretum_:

Nay, Ivy, nay, it shall not be I wys; Let Holy hafe the maystry, as the maner ys, Holy stond _in the halle_, fayre to behold; Ivy stond _without the dore_; she is full sore a cold.

Holy and hys mery men they dansyn and they syng, Ivy and hur maydenys they wepyn and they wryng.

Ivy hath a lybe; she laght.i.t with the cold, So mot they all hafe that wyth Ivy hold.

Holy hath berys as red as any rose, They foster the hunter, kepe him from the doo.

Ivy hath berys as black as any slo; Ther com the oule and ete hym as she goo.

Holy hath byrdys, aful fayre flok, The nyghtyngale, the poppyngy, the gayntyl laverok, Good Ivy! what byrdys ast thou!

Non but the Howlet that "How! How!"

The disciples of Zoroaster believe that the sun never shadows the Holly-tree; and there are still some followers of this king in Persia, who throw water which has been in the bark of the Holly in the face of new-born children. Southey, in a very elegant poem, which is printed in the _Sentiment of Flowers_, in the article ent.i.tled Foresight, of which quality the Holly is considered emblematical, has noticed the circ.u.mstance of the lower leaves of large plants being spinous, while the upper are entire.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE HORNBEAM.]

THE HORNBEAM.

[_Carpinus_.[I] Nat. Ord.--_Amentiferae_; Linn.--_Monoec. Polyan._]

[I] _Carpinus_. Barren catkin long, cylindrical. Scales roundish.

Stamens 5 to 14. Anther 1-celled. Fertile flower in a lax catkin. Scales large, leaf-like, 3-lobed, 2-flowered. Styles 2. Nut ovate, 1-seeded.

The Common Hornbeam, _C. betulus_, is a native of England and Ireland, and of the south of Scotland, and is also indigenous throughout the greater part of Europe and western Asia, but not in Africa.

Picturesquely considered, the Hornbeam is very nearly allied to the beech. When suffered to grow it will be like it, and attain to a great height, with a fine straight trunk; it is very common in many parts of England, but is rarely allowed to become a timber-tree, being generally pollarded by the country people. It is, therefore, usually seen only in clipped hedges, where it is very obedient to the knife, and, with a little care, will never presume to appear out of form. It is excellent for forming tall hedges, or screens, in nursery grounds or ornamental gardens. That admirable _espalier_ hedge in the long middle walk of Luxemburg garden at Paris (than which there is nothing more graceful), is planted of this tree; and so is that cradle, or close walk, with that perplexed canopy which covers the seat in her Majesty's garden at Hampton Court; these hedges are tonsile, but where they are maintained to fifteen or twenty feet in height (which is very frequent in the places before mentioned), they are to be cut and kept in order with a scythe of four feet long, and very little falcated; this is fixed on a long sneed, or straight handle, and does wonderfully expedite the tr.i.m.m.i.n.g of these and the like hedges.

The leaves of the Hornbeam somewhat resemble those of the elm, but are smoother; they are cordate, doubly serrate, pointed, plaited when young, and have numerous parallel, transverse, hairy ribs; their colour is a darkish green, changing to a russet brown in autumn, and they remain on the tree, like those of the beech, till spring. The buds are rather long and pointed. The flowers appear at the same time as the leaves. The male catkins are loose, scaly, of a yellowish colour, and about two or three inches long; the female catkins are much smaller, and, when young, are covered with close brownish scales, which gradually increase, and form unequally three-lobed, sharply serrated, veiny, dry, pale-green bracts, each enveloping an angular nut, scarcely bigger than a grain of barley.

These nuts ripen in October, and fall with the capsules. The bark of the Hornbeam is light-gray and smooth, and the wood very white, tough, and strong. It is used for yokes, handles for tools, and cogs for mill-wheels; it is also much valued by the turner. It is very inflammable, and will burn like a candle, for which purpose it was formerly employed. The inner bark is much used in the north of Europe for dyeing yellow.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Leaves and Flowers of _C. betulus_.]

When raised from seed, the common Hornbeam acquires the usual magnitude of the beech, to which, as before stated, it is similar in its appearance. In the neighbourhood of London the rate of growth may be considered from twelve to eighteen inches a-year for the first ten years, and the tree will attain its full size in between fifty and sixty years; its longevity may be considered as equal to that of the beech.

Hanbury says that this tree is peculiarly grateful to hares and rabbits; and if so, the planting of it among other trees and shrubs might be the means of saving them from being injured by these creatures. The Hornbeam preserves itself from the b.u.t.ting of the deer, by its mode of throwing out its branches; on this account it should be cultivated in parks, as well as for its beauty and shelter. The regular growth of the Hornbeam is referred to by Fawkes, in his _Bramham Park_:

Here spiry firs extend their lengthened ranks, There violets blossom on the sunny banks; Here Hornbeam hedges regularly grow, There hawthorn whitens and wild roses blow.

The Hornbeam is recommended to be planted on cold, barren hills, as in such situations it will flourish where few other trees will grow; it also resists the winds much better than the generality of trees, and, at the same time, it is not slow of growth. In such situations, Dr. Hunter observes that he noticed some specimens nearly seventy feet high, having large, n.o.ble stems, perfectly straight and sound.

There was a fine specimen of this tree at Bargoly, in Galloway, which measured, in 1780, six feet two inches in circ.u.mference. It had twenty feet of clear trunk, and was seventy feet high.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE HORSE-CHESTNUT TREE.]

THE HORSE-CHESTNUT TREE.

[_aesculus._ Nat. Ord.--_aesculaceae_; Linn.--_Heptan. Monog._]

The Common Horse-chestnut, _ae. hippocastanum_, is supposed to be a native of the north of India, and appears to have been introduced into England about the year 1575. It is a tree of the largest size, with an erect trunk and a pyramidal head. It forms its foliage generally in a round ma.s.s, with little appearance of those breaks which are so much to be admired, and which contribute to give an airiness and lightness, at least a richness and variety, to the whole ma.s.s of foliage. This tree is, however, chiefly admired for its flower, which in itself is beautiful; but the whole tree together in flower is a glaring object, totally unharmonious and unpicturesque. In some situations, indeed, and amidst a profusion of other wood, a single Horse-chestnut or two in bloom may be beautiful. As it forms an admirable shade, it may be of use, too, in thickening distant scenery, or in screening an object at hand; for there is no species of foliage, however heavy, nor any species of bloom, however glaring, which may not be brought, by some proper contrast, to produce a good effect. It is generally, however, considered one of the most ornamental trees in our plantations. Evelyn styles it a tree of singular beauty and use; and Miss Twamley, in her elegant volume, the _Romance of Nature_, breaks into raptures in speaking of it.

"Few trees," she says, "are so magnificent in foliage as the Horse-chestnut, with its large fan-like leaves, far more resembling those of some tropical plant than the garb of a forest-tree in climes like ours; but when these are crowned with its pyramids of flowers, so splendid in their distant effect, and so exquisitely modelled and pencilled when we gather and examine their fair forms--is it not then the pride of the landscape? If the Oak--the true British Oak--be the forest king, let us give him at least a partner in his majesty; and let the Chestnut, whose n.o.ble head is crowned by the hand of spring with a regal diadem, gemmed with myriads of pearly, and golden, and ruby flowers, let her be queen of the woods in bonny England; and while we listen to the musical hum of bees, as they load themselves with her wealth of honey, we will fancy they are congratulating their n.o.ble and generous friend on her new honours."

The leaves of the Horse-chestnut are large, of a deep green colour, fine, and palmated, and appear very early in the spring; it is naturally uniform in its growth. In the spring it produces long spikes, with beautiful flowers white and variegated, generally in such number as to cover the whole tree, and to give it the appearance of one gigantic bouquet. No flowering shrub is rendered more gay by its blossoms than this tall tree; thus it combines beauty with grandeur, in a degree superior to any other vegetable of these climates. In Howitt's _Forest Minstrel_, we find the following poetical allusion:

For in its honour prodigal nature weaves A princely vestment, and profusely showers, O'er its green ma.s.ses of broad palmy leaves, Ten thousand waxen pyramidal flowers; And gay and gracefully its head it heaves Into the air, and monarch-like it towers.

The buds of this tree, before they shoot out leaves, become turgid and large, so that they have a good effect to the eye long before the leaves appear; and it is peculiar to the Horse-chestnut, that as soon as the leading shoot is come out of the bud, it continues to grow so fast as to be able to form its whole summer's shoot in about three weeks' or a month's time: after this it grows little or nothing more in length, but thickens, and becomes strong and woody, and forms the buds for the next year's shoot; the leaves are blunt, spear-shaped, and serrated, growing by sevens on one stalk, the middle one longest. The flowers are in full blossom about May, and, on fine trees, make a pleasing appearance; they continue in bloom for a month or more.