Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-22

ton. and that is the reason that has made
Virginia and Maryland a field of fertile hol-
iday profits for the country folks
Probably one hundred men are interested
in cutting and shipping holly alone, and
each of them employs On an average hVe
pickers each, so that the annual harvest
employs 500 people for full month before
Christmas, besides women and & .rls, VINO
make up the wreaths. There seems never to
have been a perceptible dim!nution in the
holly crop, because the plant is prolific
grower In packing the holly is always tied
tightly in bundles to prevent the berries
from breaking off, and precautlon Is taken
to thaw out the cutting very slowly when 1t
has become frozen in order 10 prevent the
berries from turning black
Ground pine, princess pine, running pine,
Grub moss, or bouquet green's as one OF The
favorite Christmas decorations is Yariously
called by laymen, has never known a rival
for ropes and festoons. 1t is tiny tree.
which grows only six or seven inches high,
and although it is pulled up by the roots
by the reckless gatherers it rep.ants itself
so freely that there is very little danger or
its determination.
Failure of the Laurel.
Unlike this and other holiday green's
however the native laurel is becoming
more and more scarce. 1t is not free and
prolific grower like most of the others. and
each year the crop dimnishes peTceptibly.
So highly is the laurel valued. both for its
tick evergreen and glossy leaves in the
winter and its exquisite blossoms In the
spring, that the Society for the protection
of Native Plants has taken active steps to
prevent its determination.
Wild southern smilax. a very different
thing from the green house smilaX, is
comparative newcomer among the chrlst-
mas greens. The wild smilaN has the most
lasting qualities of any vine used for deco
rative purposes. a plant called galaX is n
other lately-introduced green, though its
beautiful leaves often bronze as
green. 1t grows principally in the south
ern Appalachian mountains, and il is said
that many bales of this plant are exported
each year to Europe. especially to Ger
many.
Virginia Balsam.
To the popular mind Christmas tree il
any kind of an evergreen set up in tho
house to bear the weight of presents and
toys and fancy ornaments. but to the tree
man in Virginia a Christmas tree is just
one kind of tree the balsam fir. 1t is the
ideal Christmas tree. partly because IT has
strong stiff branches. capable OF holding
generous array, but chiefly because il is
valuable for no other purpose. Its fragrant
needles are sometimes used for balsam
pillows but the tree is worthless for lum-
Der.
Virginia farmers have discovered that the
balsam fir has a peculiar habit, when cut
off close to the ground, of sending up num-
bers of shoots from the old stump, ana IL
has been demonstrated by experience that
the tree can be made TO reproduce itself
almost any number of times by simply per
hitting one of these new shoots on each
stump to grow to maturity.
In We oden times the cedar was regarded
as the ideal Christmas tree. but the cedar
has a great valne as commercial product
and cedar posts are worth more than
Christmas trees. and the cedar has taken
to the background in favor of the balsam
fir Native Virginia pines also consid-
erably in evidence among the Christmas
tree offerings, but majority of these trees
are so gnarled that it is only rarely that
they can compete with the more symmetri-
cal balsam tree.