"Above all the natural _Greens_ which inrich our _home-born_ store, there is non certainly to be compared to the _Holly_, insomuch as I have often wonder'd at our _curiosity_ after foreign Plants and expensive _difficulties_, to the neglect of the _culture_ of this _vulgar_ but _incomparable tree...._ Is there under _Heaven_ a more glorious and refreshing object of the kind than an impregnable _Hedge_ of _near three hundred foot in length, nine foot high_, and _five in diameter_; which I can show in my poor _Gardens_ at any time of the year, glitt'ring with its arm'd and vernish'd _leaves_? The taller _Standards_ at orderly distances, blushing with their natural _Coral_. It mocks at the rudest assaults of the _Weather_, _Beasts_, or _Hedge-breakers_." This hedge grew, not at Wotton, but at Sayes Court, Evelyn's other place near Deptford, which he leased to the Czar Peter the Great in 1697, and had occasion to repent having done so, for that eccentric monarch, in the intervals of his work at the dockyard, amused himself by causing his courtiers to trundle each other in wheelbarrows down a steep descent into the said hedge, which was seriously damaged thereby. No tree is better adapted than the holly for making a hedge; but it does not always get the treatment necessary to produce the finest effect. I have never seen any to equal the holly hedges at Colinton House, in Mid-Lothian, which were planted between 1670 and 1680, and are now from 35 to 40 feet high, tapering upwards from a basal diameter of about 20 feet. The lower branches have rooted themselves freely, so that it would be difficult to create a more effective barrier of vegetation. The total length of these hedges is 1,120 feet, having been formed originally with about 4,500 plants. Colonel Trotter's gardener, Mr. John Bruce, takes a just pride in tending them, clipping them annually at the end of March, so as to ensure a close young growth maturing before the winter frosts. The proper season for planting hollies is May, after growth has started. If the operation is delayed till autumn, they make no new roots, and suffer so much from frost and cold winds that many of them never get established. This is one of those secrets which one has to find out for oneself, at the cost of many wasted seasons. _Haud ignarus loquor._ Although in generous soil the holly will make long annual shoots, it is very slow in forming wood, which may account for our neglect of it as a timber tree. But the wood is of very fine quality, being hard and white, excellent for turnery and for making mathematical instruments.