Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-12-20
Return of Mistletoe to Official Favor
Averts Great Blow to Holiday Romance

Toy prevails among the romantic
over the news from the Bureau
of Plant Industry of the De
~ partment of Agriculture that
the threatened onslaught on
mistletot, the historic Christmas
kissing plant" has been averted
through the discovery that it is not
the species which strangles SO much
valuable timber.
The criminal is a half-brother. so
10 speak, known as the yellow pine
mlstletoe. Therefore the romance
which fingers around the kissing
bush" at Christmas time is left undis
turbed. Furthermore. we may count
on abundance of mistletoe for some
years to come.
The impression which had gained
nationwide circulation that forestry
experts regarded ii as destructive TO
! the trees upon which it grew was
brought about by the bad behavior of
this half-brother. Not only the West
ern yellow pine, the bulk of CONNER
clal timber in the Rocky Mountain
zone, but the Douglas fir of Washing
ton and oregon and the sugar pine of
California have been the object of at
tack by the destructive member of the
mistietoe family. Busy foresters have
tried the chemical cure in vain, and
they have now hit upon a new idea.
Ihey are going to try to breed it out
This will be done by cutting off the
| sprlgS of mistletoe from year to year
when they are on branches too large
70 be cut and pruning of small infected
branches below the point where the
parasite is attached to the tree. 1t is
| admitted that not much lumber is
| killed outright by mistletoe. but its
| effect is to lower the vitality of its
victim tree and render it more sus-
! ceptible to the bark beetle and heart
/ rot.
This last pest sometimes damages
! ~ per cent of their marketable value
Infection at an early age causes
physical distortion into such queer
! and twisted shapes that the lumber is
practically unmarketable.
! Much of the charm and romantic at.
| mosphere of Christmas would be lost
| II mistletoe were taken out of the
luletfde story. For ages it's symbolic
place has been an honored one with
| poet and artist. And no Christmas
| decoration of the home is considered
quite adequate without the magic
twfg to stimulate kissing, which ordi.
! narily goes by favor, but at Christ
mas time is permitted to any one for
| tunate enough to possess a small
piece of the privileged plant
Although at present mistletoe is
never used to celebrate the religious
side of the festival, yet in the days
Of the Druids it played a prominent
part in their ritual Somehow or
other, although custom now sanctions
| its unlimited use in homes. the church
seems to have vetoed it for decorative
purposes. In fact, as one author has
written of it's omission:
| 1T is rather extraordinary, when
| one comes to think of it, that though
| mistletoe has always been associated
with Christmas festivities and decora-
| tons at home, yet it is never used to
celebrate the religious side of the fes-
tival. Every hall. house or cottage
may have it's bunch of mistletoe hang
| ing, with it's sly reminder of love and
kisses. but never a leaf or berry is
seen in our churches: its use therein
is never suggested. This is the more
extraordinary since, apparently, there
| is no law laid down in the matter, nor
! is there any written pronouncement
regarding the point; the practice rests
on age-old custom, backed up by an
innate. IL indefinable, sense of the un-
suitability Of the plant in Christian