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has done so much for Hollies as the use of Oak 
Leafmold. The planting directions we give are most 
simple — use lots of Oak Leafmold and do not 
forget water; let cost be your only guide for you 
can hardly use too much. 
| have shipped many Hollies to Minnesota, Wis- 
consin, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, 
Canada, and Nova Scotia; planted in Oak Leafmold 
almost all are doing well. This proves latitude is 
not the barrier it has always been thought to be. 
Altitude, too, has been overcome since Hollies are 
now established in the Poconos, Catskills, Adiron- 
dacks, and Green Mountains. In fact they are grow- 
ing most everywhere. To sum it all up, Holly has 
few of the faults credited to it, but is very par- 
ticular as to soil conditions and will often die 
rather than get used to man made soil. However, 
the whole trouble is usually very easily corrected. 
The “secret” is the generous use of Oak Leafmold 
when transplanting. This helps make _ conditions 
“natural” when we place Holly around our homes. 
Success is hard to secure without it. 
LEAFMOLD DIFFERS FROM PEATMOSS 
Nor should we overlook the insulating value of 
Oak Leafmold as it greatly cuts down the depth 
penetration of frost. When you figure that ground 
in an open field will freeze 18 inches, and the 
same cold penetrates only 3 inches in the forest 
floor, you can begin to see what | mean. Of no 
less value is the effect produced in summer. Heat 
penetrating ordinary soil will kill many Holly root- 
lets for which dry weather is blamed. Oak Leaf- 
mold is a valuable insulating blanket winter or 
summer. 1 
| cannot express it in technical terms, but the 
real value of Oak Leafmold comes from its being 
“alive”. We gather it from upland woods where 
it is from 4 to 10 inches thick, with the top leaves 
only a few years old while the bottom layers have 
remained for decades. The whole mass comes in 
varying degrees of decomposition. Regardless of 
how long it has remained in the woods, it has been 
impregnated day by day with light and air. Every 
bushel of Oak Leafmold that is gathered from the 
floor of the woods has in it thousands of minute 
growing rootlets of plants and trees. The fact that 
this material has ripened in light and air cannot be 
over-emphasized. 
In great contrast are the peat mosses and other 
forms of humus which, while they hold the moisture 
as does Oak Leafmold, cannot feed our plants be- 
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