39 



blooming every year after a colony once comes into bloom. 

 After flowering once, fringed gentians die, so the continuation 

 of a colony depends on repeated self-seeding, with conditions 

 favorable to the growth of the seedlings. Considerable fluctu- 

 ation may be expected from year to year in the number of 

 plants that appear, and especially as many of these plantings 

 may be made in localities not fully suited to the plant. 



A. B. Stout, 



HOLLY 



From many private places in the vicinity of New York comes 

 the lament: — -"My holly has been stolen" — "My trees have 

 been cut down after I closed my place. " The New York Times 

 stated that "the farmers of Cape May County, N. J., have 

 been sitting up nights with shotguns, loaded with rock salt, 

 across their knees to give a warm reception to thieving intruders, 

 who come in quest of holly and greens. It is from the sale of 

 these that the farmers derive revenue which enables them to 

 pay for their children's education." 



At The New York Botanical Garden, after an experience with 

 vandals the year before, all the holly berries within reach were 

 gathered and planted. They are slow in germinating — ^unless 

 they are soaked in warm water and the berries crushed so as to 

 free the seeds. When eaten by birds and scattered out of doors, 

 they sprout more quickly. We now have in cold frames, and in 

 nurseries, plants ranging from one to four years of age and have 

 started more this year. 



Mrs. Baldwin of Maplewood, N. J., writes that for twenty 

 years or more she has often planted her holly berries in pots 

 with other plants in the house and has grown many holly trees 

 on her own place and to give to her friends. 



The Baltimore Chapter of the Wild Flower Preservation 

 Society of America, of which Mrs. Bouton is Secretary, has 

 been particularly active in trying to persuade local residents 

 to replant the holly. 



Miss Marietta M. Andrews has written the "Lament of the 

 Holly" and this has been presented as a play and a pageant 

 both in Baltimore and Washington. The poem has been re- 



