The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-02-10
Thc 9utlanl Daily Glohe.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1873.
From our Special Correspondent
FOitEIGN LErTE...
rnG MiStETog ASD TIE WEATHER.


Coyent Garden market after wandering
through the borough, Spitlalfeld's and
harrington street, will assure the observer
that tho mslctoc bough is dropping, that
lis popularity in the od.timc pagcantrv OF
Christmas is upon the cbh The trade in
green stuff Is, however, at this season of
the year Of enormous cXtcn,, and unless
one be introduced to the arcana of the
tradesmen's books it is impossible to realize
the decline in the popular esteem of this
silvan decoration.
Carts filled as high hay-stacks with bun
dies of holly, laurel and mislatoc, amongst
which the red and white berries glistcn
flank the approaches TO Covert Garden.
Within the vaultcd arches of the market,
forests, groves aud fcstoons of these
shrubs are suspended and piled in every
conceivable corner, while the stall men arc
in chronic state of qui rirc in order t.
preserve their property from the dcpreda-
tons OF the youthful gang, who, satia,ed
with dccaycd oranges and musty grapes,
crave sprig of "Christmas" for their hats
or cluster Of berries for the button
holes of their ragged jackets.
But not only in this recognized centre of
the ''green stuff" trade Is the msletoe to
be found, since in the countless streets
where Use or custom has erected booth
or stall there does it flourish amid an
abundance of laurel and the less arstocra-
tic holly. No coster-monger occupies q
a corner but upon his barrow is to be found
green branch for decoration sake
Birnam Wood seems not only to have
come to Dunsnanc but to have brought all
the underground with it and to have dis
tributed it literally about the streets.
And yet the fact remains, resting upon
the unimpcachabe consonancc of authority
that the trade in Christmas decoration il
far less than it was five years ago and that
it has, on the average, been decreasing If
each successive year of the five. Beside re-
quring cold weather tor their propcl
growth, the misleioc and holly are scarcely
saleable in mild weather which has thu.
far been the popularity of the present win
ter.
The peaks of the Scottish Highlands are
the only sites which have been favored
with fall of snow and So soft and balmy
is the air throughout Great Britain that
greenhouses and conservatories are thrown
open during the day and frequently through
the night How Ito You account for thii
singular weather, Mr.. Pscldo-Wisdom
An, my dear fellow, the variation of th,
Gulf stream, you known How fortunat,
it is for the jewellers upon the Atlantic &c
possess this universal rat-holc in which {,
sccrctc their ignorance of any chang,
which may vary the usual course of tn,
season
In support of the opinion that the wealth
cr is at the root Of the evil decline in green
stuff trade, may take the liberty of in
sorting the logical remarks of green
grocer, who had dealt in Christmas tree
for twcnty-cight years, and who, nov
seated upon an upturncd hamper beside hi
unfrequcnted barrow within the shade o
Covcnt Garden, was prepared to proifer hi
ideas to an inquirer. The prelude wa
plaintiff had sold grccn-stun ator
Christmas when the holly leaves were well
nigh stiff with frost and when the barrow
wheels were up to the aXlcs in snow. Then
were times when holly was holly and a bi
about house looked homcly and Christ
mas like" But the grecn-groccr, although
interested to the extent of an invested capi
tai of thirteen shilings, was constrained t,
confess that he didn't see what pcopl
wanted with green-stutf with the win,
blowing from the southwest. He fance
that the matter of the seasons was radicall
wrong in England, owing to the prcsump
tuous meddling with the almanack, tn
initial error dating back to the time whe
''they introduced what they call the ncl
style"
"What sort of Christmas do YOU have i
America" Waxing somewhat warm i
the discussion. do You have south-wes
winds and warm rains there about the 25t
of December: never heard tell of 'el
0he American nation at large, hut the
take the almanack there, suppose. a
God Almighty made it and don't go potter
n ing about with yer new styles till you'll b
having green-peas on the barriers on Ne,
Years Day AMI winter-cabbages in bloor
in the dog-days. How can you expec
people to buy yer msletoe and yer greer
stuff when its no more the reel Christina
day next Thursday than its my first brit
day? You must have right crispy col
week, or else a downright snowy slush
. week, to sell your green-stuff. In war;
t weather Christmas is unnateral and greer
stuffs is unnateral and when people hay
done without grecn-stulf one Christma
because it's not been real Christmas weatl
er then they find it easier to do without
the next, and so it'll go on until there won
r. be blessed bit sold, unless it's for tn
churches, and they always want it for neA
to nothing and then insist on couple c
bundles thrown in -
The green-grocer was fairly purple !
the face after his rhetorical exercise for h
was short-tempered man and had wa
of regarding his interlocutor as PERSONAL
responsible for the mildness of the Chris
mas season and the collateral dcprecatio
of the grceu-stuff market. But allowanc
must be made for him since the attendanC
upon his 'barrcr" had not been pressin
and his shrubs were losing something {
their pristine briliancy.
s.. The business of providing London wit
Christmas trees and boughs is widespread
and many men and much money are en-
ployed in its acquittal. The capitalists Al
in the habit of making excursions into IL
- green-stuff growing counties and of selcc