heavy loads of red berries. Real old Hollies seem 
to bear much heavier than younger trees. 
One magnificent specimen always interests me. 
It is on the bank of a creek several miles from the 
nearest settlement and is called by some of the old- 
est natives “Indian Chief Holly.’ Legend has it 
that many years ago an Indian chief, when on pil- 
grimages with his tribe after fish and oysters regu- 
larly camped under this very tree. Indians are said 
to have held the belief that “lightning never strikes 
a Holly.” 
12. Must I Have Both Male 
and Female Trees? 
Yes. ‘The female or berry tree will bear only if 
fertilized with pollen from the male tree. Bees ac- 
complish this and will often travel two miles, so 
your tree will bear if there is a male tree within 
a few blocks, but you will probably have more 
berries if there is a male tree in your own yard. 
One is enough for several berry trees. You do not 
have to have an equal number of each—try one 
male to ten female trees—and they do not have to 
be as close together as some people believe. But 
let me repeat, a female Hol/y will bear berries if 
there is a non berry tree near enough for the bees 
to carry pollen to fertilize it, but you cannot be 
sure of the maximum number of berries unless you 
have at least one male tree in your own yard. 
13. Can I Grow My Own 
Christmas Berries? 
Yes. Pruning will help almost every Holly tree; 
in fact. it is just about impossible to grow a very 
dense Holly without cutting back. If this is to be 
done one might as well cut at Christmas and en- 
joy the beautiful berries. 
We have had for the past ten years all the Holly 
berries we have wanted annually for our own house 
decorating, cemetery lots, etc., have sent boxes 
of berries to friends and supplied hundreds of cut- 
ting for propagating from a single Holly tree. ‘This 
tree was six feet high when planted fifteen years 
ago and today is a beautiful thing, much thicker 
and better looking than it could possibly have been 
without Christmas pruning. 
A few weeks ago a school teacher came to me 
and said, “I want to teach my children to get their 
Christmas Holly berries from their own trees. How 
will I tell them to get the berries, cut off the whole 
