their 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- 
erimages 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 1s 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 Holly 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 in your own yard. 

13. Can I Grow MyOwn 
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 Hol- 
ly berries we have wanted annually for our own 
house decorating, cemetery lots, etc., have sent 
boxes of berries to friends and supplied hundreds 
of cuttings 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 pos- 
sibly 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 thier own trees. 
How will I tell them to get the berries, cut off the 
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