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forget water; let cost be your only guide, for you 
can hardly use too much. 
I 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, Adirondacks, and Green Mountains. In 
fact they are growing most everywhere. To sum it 
all up, Holly has few of the faults credited to it, but 
is very particular 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 I 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. 
I 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 mois- 
ture as does Oak Leafmold, cannot feed our plants 
because they are “locked”. Lying for centuries 
without benefit of light or air, they develop a set 
condition that is very hard to break down. It is 
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