Holly (Ilex aquifolium.) Of this hardy evergreen shrub there are eight varieties: - 1, silver-edged; 2, golden-edged; 3, thick-leaved; 4, prickly; 5, yellow-leaved; 6, variegated; 7, spotted; 8, recurvum. It is so desirable, as an ornamental and as a hedge-shrub, that it deserves some more particular notice.

If grown as single ornamental shrubs, they "should not be overshadowed by other trees; and if the land is manured for it so much the better. As to pruning it, with a view to make it grow fast, the less you do of that the better. All that is necessary is to encourage the leader, if necessary, by stopping any laterals that try to interfere with it. In the nurseries, when hollies are stunted and bushy-headed, they are headed down with a view to obtaining a clean straight shoot; but they should not be allowed to become stunted, and then there would be no need to cut them back. In hollies and all other things, stop where necessary; but prune not at all if you can help it." - Gard. Chron.

Large plants will bear moving: "if they are shifted in wet weather, as, for example, at the beginning of the July rains, or at any other period when a week or ten days of dull damp weather can be calculated upon, they are certain to succeed. The season least exposed to risk is perhaps the end of autumn, in the dull damp part of October or November; the worst season is the spring." - Gard. Chron.

Dr. Lindley says that " the most expeditious way of making holly-hedges is to procure large plants from some nursery; but, with the smallest expense and more time, the following may be recommended: -

"Gather a sufficient quantity of berries when ripe; then dig a hole three or four feet deep, and throw the berries in, crushing and mixing them with some fine soil at the same time; close the hole with the soil taken out, and throw some litter, or other covering, over the whole, to prevent the wet or frost penetrating about them in beds. They will make nice little plants the first season; and by transplanting the stronger ones, you will have fine plants in about three years. The holly will not thrive in any poor light sandy soil, or in a swampy situation, but likes a strong, deep, dry, loamy soil." - Gard. Chron.

The best season for clipping hollies is early in spring, before they make their annual growth.

The European Holly does not fully resist the winter of Pennsylvania, unless on well drained land, and further north it is probable it would suffer much more, except in the vicinity of the sea, where many plants do well that are not able to withstand the winter of the same latitude in the interior.

Our own native Holly, (Ilex opaca,) is a fine plant too long overlooked. - Why do not persons of taste decorate their grounds with this noble American evergreen, which will grow in any soil, and resist the winter's frost and summer's sun throughout the length and breadth of our continent.