will fall off preparatory to new ones coming out 
in the spring. 
When a holly is moved rather late in the fall, 
and many roots are cut, it may shed all its 
leaves during the winter. In these cases, people 
often believe their tree is dead, whereas actual- 
ly it will sprout new foliage in the spring. Only 
when we see dry brown leaves hanging on a Holly 
do we believe the tree*dead. 
In all late fall moving, we recommend that 
only trees in pots or in the “Nature Packed” 
wire basket be purchased. ‘These Hollies havé 
no roots cut in moving and will not lose their 
leaves the first winter. 
How Soon Will My Holly Bear 
Berries? 
We often have berries on a few one and two 
year old Hollies. However, a Holly under SIX 
feet in height is rather immature and cannot 
be expected to bear berries every year, nor can 
one predict just which years it will bear, except 
to say that the average bearing of young Hol- 
lies here is more than one time in three years. 
Trees over five or six feet generally settle down 
to bearing steadily every year. 
Pruning. How Shall I Do It? 
Effects? 
Pruning a Holly for Christmas greens is like 
giving it a spring tonic. It will be all the more 
beautiful the next Christmas. 
It works this way: if your Holly looks attrac- 
tive this year it evidently has a good healthy root 
system which can easily support its branches. 
If you cut off a few of the branches, obviously the 
root has less top to support, and consequently 
puts out more vigorous foliage than ever before. 
Best time to prune is mid-December to mid- 
March. It is important that all pruning be done 
with knife, saw or shears and that a clean cut be 
made. If you break your Holly for Christmas 
rather than cut it, you will have done your tree 
infinite harm. A ragged break draws more 
energy in scar tissue than is required to grow 
an eight foot branch. ‘Trees in the wild that 
have been continually broken are little but a 
mass of huge, healed scars. In contrast, some 
trees in my nursery that have been pruned for 
thirty years put out two feet of growth all over 
each year and sometimes yield five hundred 
pounds of berries. 
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