each time you water, whereas without it you 
could not put much water on without its running 
off. Soaking the tree with gallons and gallons of 
water once in ten days is worth far more than 
a sprinkling twice a day. 
Finish up with putting some organic fertilizer 
on top of the ground just under the branches. 
See paragraph on Fertilizer. 
How May I Intelligently Choose 
the Best Varieties of Holly Avail- 
able? i.e. Why Should I Not Just 
Go Out and Buy the. Cheapest 
Holly I Can Find? 
The “cheapest” Holly is almost invariably a 
seedling Holly. Seedling Hollies do not bloom at 
an early age and therefore cannot be sexed until 
- they are of fair size as, at present, sex can be de- 
termined only by observing bloom. ‘The honest 
*/ nurseryman will tag his trees as to male and fe- 
male as soon as they bloom, but few nurserymen 
' _.. will pull out and destroy those seedlings which 
have off-color leaves, dull berries, or poor habits 
of growth. Then, too, there is no way of deter- 
mining at an early age which seedlings will bear 
every year, or will bear heavily. Years of observ- 
ance are needed in determining this. 
Rooted cuttings (Named Varieties), on the 
other hand, have been propagated from Parent 
Trees which have been observed to bear heavily 
most years, to have fine dark green, tough leaves, 
bright red berries, and to have a pleasing manner 
of growth. 
Grafted Hollies should be avoided in that a 
graft consists of a twig from a good Holly parent — 
grafted on the root of a wild Holly. The wild 
holly root is often vigorous enough to send out . 
foliage which blends with and overshadows the 
good Holly grafted thereon. 
Thus we advise that you buy Named Varieties 
of rooted cuttings, and that you determine 
through literature or observance what the parent 
tree of your prospective Holly is like. 
EARLE DILATUSH > 
Holly Specialist 
Route 25 # Robbinsville, N. J. 
