ing to outdo their neighbors, a great many people 
will plant as | have outlined in this discussion, but 
just cannot resist adding an unreasonable quantity 
of Vigoro, sulphate of ammonia or some other 
concentrated type of fertilizer. Be careful, you 
may kill your tree with too much kindness. 
7. In Order to Prevent the too 
Rapid Evaporation of Mois- 
ture Should I Strip the 
Leaves from My Holly 
When I Plant? 
No. Stripping the leaves does definite harm. 
It is a disagreeable job at best, injures the bark of 
the Holly and harms the ends of the twigs. The 
bark of the Holly is little more than tender skin 
and care should always be taken not to harm it. 
FAHolly in the wild would be injured far less if 
vandals at Christmas would cut cleanly instead of 
breaking or tearing the branches. Do not for- 
get that at planting time a broken or split root 
should be cut cleanly, also. This is more impor- 
tant than many people realize. 
Most nursery-grown Holly with a good, heavy 
root system and a compact top needs no thought 
about taking off the leaves. If you feel that you 
must follow this practice, just use pruning shears 
and cut the twigs back a few inches. 
Many large trees can be helped by using a spray 
when they are moved. Some years ago a chemist 
for a large spray material firm worked weeks for 
me to perfect a paraffine emulsion for this pur- 
pose. The result was a non-injurious, cheap, easy- 
to-use material that looks like milk and does a 
fine job. I believe it should be used much more ex- 
tensively. Its one fault seems to be that the 
sprayed tree looks white for weeks and so hurts 
the sale for me. I use it a lot when transplanting. 
8. What Is the Best Fertilizer 
for Holly? 
If plenty of leafmold is used, very little ferti- 
lizer is needed. A double handful of cottonseed 
meal put annually around each small tree—put 
three or four times as much around a six to eight- 
foot tree and a bucketful around a large tree— 
will make the leaves dark green and help its ap- 
pearance. Such a Holly will bear more berries than 
one that is stunted or grows very slowly. Cotton- 
seed meal is safe—you may use any quantity you 
wish. 
