a 
- Billions of Rootlets 
Nature has*much to teach us, but we learn so 
little because most of us are apt to just take 
things for granted. For instance, a few hours’ 
time spent in walking through almost any woods 
will reveal small trees, ferns and flowers growing 
to perfection in old stumps. How much more in- 
teresting these plants become when we realize 
that almost all have grown from acorn or seed 
with nothing for plantfood but Stumpdirt. If we 
_go further and take an old stump apart we will 
be simply amazed at the root system of these 
plants. Right here we would learn perhaps the 
most wonderful thing about Stumpdirt. It is fas- 
cinating indeed to see the countless tiny rootlets 
plants send out when they grow in these old 
stumps. And when we realize that it is only 
through these little rootlets that growing things 
take in plantfood, we can more readily compre- 
hend the miracle of Stumpdirt. 
-~Nature Gives New Idea 
One day some years ago my men dug up a 
hemlock that had grown in an old stump. It was 
perhaps fifteen years old. When we got the tree 
out of the ground (and out of the stump which 
still had enough hard wood on the outside, above 
ground, to keep its shape), I found that almost 
all of the thousands of fine rootlets were within 
the stump while only larger roots extended into 
the soil. The fact that the little rootlets elected 
to stay in the Stumpdirt rather than grow out 
into the soil gave me an idea, which, carried 
out in my Holly fields, has changed cultural 
_ methods entirely and saved many dollars. 
Rather than the very costly old method of root 
pruning or moving large nursery-grown Hollies 
every two or three years—absolutely impossible 
now under war time conditions—I place them in 
“wells” filled with Stumpdirt. Spaced far apart, 
‘my trees—like the hemlock in the old stump— 
‘grow for years with most of their valuable little 
rootlets confined while a few larger roots seek 
space in the original soil outside of the “well.” 
The trees dig and ball perfectly. 
_Now let me urge that you try a few simple 
tests at home that will do more to. convince than 
all I have written. Dig two small trees or plants 
and reset, putting one in Stumpdirt and the other 
in your best garden soil. Water well and take 
the same care of each. Lift again, after a year, 
and the root system will be so much heavier on 
the “Stumpdirt” plant that you will find it hard 
to believe your own eyes. Just such a‘ test with 
