162 BROAD-LEAVED EVERGREENS 



dron game well unless he does a good deal of reading and visiting 

 gardens. 



MORE GET FOOLED IN BUYING 



But the greatest sink-hole for our money is the " Dutch game." 

 The cheapest evergreens you can buy are those freshly imported 

 from Holland and as they always look the best, they are irresistible 

 to a beginner. Every one has to lose at this game before he will heed 

 the warnings of thousands who have had the same experience. 



The reason why the Dutch plants cost the least is that they 

 can be grown faster in Holland than anywhere else. There is an 

 inexhaustible supply of water only eighteen inches below the 

 surface of the soil in many of these nurseries and consequently the 

 growth is really forced. 



The reason why the Dutch plants always look best to a 

 beginner is that their leaves are darker and shinier, because of this 

 abnormally fast growth. 



The reason why they die soonest is that plants which have been 

 grown abnormally fast are set back when removed to average con- 

 ditions. They suffer especially from drought and winter killing. 



Moreover the Dutch soil is most treacherous in another way. 

 We have nothing in the East that will amalgamate with it. That 

 black waxy earth looks moist when it is really dry, and if evergreens 

 once get thoroughly dried out at the root it's "good-by" to them. 



If you wish to back your judgment against the world's, buy 

 freshly imported Dutch evergreens. But I should not be surprised 

 if America has paid as much as $20,000,000 in the past for Dutch 

 evergreens that died a lingering death in five years after planting. 



The only safe plan is to buy English stock that has been 

 grown under normal conditions or else "acclimated stock," i. e., 

 stock which has been freed from the Dutch soil and grown a year 



