Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1898-12-24
CHRISTMAS GREENS.
NO. 1.O3.

How Holly and Mist1etoe Came Into
Use.
A Christmas without it's greens would
be like winter without snow or q we'd
ding without bells. The popular custom
of decorating our homes with evergreens
and holly each Christmastide has come
down through the long centuries out Of
the twilight shadows Of early Roman
anthology hahowed with poetic assooia-
! tions. At the annual approach Of the
saturnalia, the Roman feast and revel In
honor of Saturn, 1t was the habit Of the
people Of Rome to dress their temples and
dwellings with green boughs. To the
Romans these green's were merely the em.
blem of the returning life and foliage of
the spring, to which the children OF sun
clad Italy looked forward with certain
southern restfulness. The same practice,
though partaking Of more religious char
acter, existed among the Celtic Druids,
the holly and the mistletoe being regarded
as possessing certain sacred and magical
virtues. 1t was also an old Druidio tradi-
tion that the cross had been made Of the
wood Of the mistletoe, which originally
was forest tree. After the cruoifxion,
they said, 1t was blasted and condemned
to exist only as stunted parasite. The
present Anglo:Saxon regard for the mis-
tletoe undoubtedly IL a vestigial remnant
of that old pagan superstition.
1t Is one Of tho little ironies Of history,
however, that the Viscum album Of the
staid old Druids should evolve into our
modern mistletoe and be looked upon as
the authorized encouragor Of the undig-
nified osculatory art. AS for holly, on the
other hand, Pliny tells how the Romans
endowed 1t with supernatural powers,
planting 1t near their dwellings that they
might not be struck by lightning, and the
Latin writer, Lonicerus, said 1t was very
good for stitch In the side.
The steadily increasing demand for
these Christmas green's has given birth
to a new industry of no insignificant
proportions. Some idea Of the quantity
of mistletoe that is mado use Of each Christ
mas may be judged by the fact that
great city like London or New York i'm
ports over 100 tons each Yuletide. But
the mystic mistletoe which we hang on
our own chandeliers and under which We
essay tho most audacious labial exercises is
really cousin to the European species and
is known to the botanist and florist as
Phoradendron 1avescens. 1t Is smaller,
both in berry and leaf, than the English
plant, but one can kiss just as many girls
under it as one can under the genuine Eu-
ropean article.
American mistletoe Is found in great
quantities in New Jersey and southward
through the Carolinas, in New Mexico and
in the Indian Territory. Here it Is gath
cred, packed in crates or barrels and ship
ped to the distributing agencies in the
larger cities. The English mistletoe, how
ever, on account of It's pearly white ber-
ries and It's larger leaves, Is more sought
after, and great quantities are shipped in
crates each winter from Liverpool. The
price it brings in American markets by
the pound is usually from 25 to 30 cents.
Most of the holly used In America at
Christmas comes from Maryland, Virginia
and the neighboring southern states. A
certain amount Of English holly is import
ed but the shipments Of this glossy leafed
plant across the herring pond are annual
ly decreasing. The American holly will
sometimes grown to height Of 40 feet.
AS each year holly enters more and more
into decorative designs for Christmas both
In tho church and the household, the i'm
mense quantity that is shipped north each
winter from the temperate southern states
has given birth to a new and important
industry. The increased demand for mis-
tletoe also has led to the artificial propa-
CATION of that sticky seeded parasite. Gull
tivators of the plant make V shaped in
cision in the bark Of ordinary fruit trees
or in that Of maple, poplar or Eastwood
and insert the seeds in tho cavity. AS the
mistletoe is true parasite, living on the
sap of other trees, in few weeks the plant
begins its growth. Its berries are about
the sizo of currants, white and translucent
and filled with viscid juice which serves
The purpose Of attaching the seed to the
branches or bark OF trees during the proc
as of termination. JOHN LIE CLAIR.