By P. D. ELDRED
SANTA CRUZ, Calif uP—"Cho
ose and cut” Christmas tree farms,
where the price is right and the
kids can enjoy a mountain picnic
to boot, are catching on fast on the
West Coast
Turning cutover and unproduc
tive timberland into tree farms
where the city family can cut down
a Ur or pine of its own choosing
Is paying off this year in the Santa
Cruz Mountains.
And in the coastal ranges to the
north and south many more such
farms are coming into production.
New Marketing Technique
(There is nothing particularly
new about tree farms, as such, for
they are big business across the
land. But the “choose and cut”
marketing system is something
else again.
It wasn’t until 3956, when about
14 farms in the Santa Cruz Moun
tains sold around 5,000 trees, that
the project started to pay off.
; This year, somewhere between
{1000 and 10.000 trees will be sold
in this area, according to Howard
Nielsen, president of the Santa
Cruz County Christmas Tree
Grower’s Assn. He vividly remem
bers last Dec. 3 when 3.000 people,
most of them from not-too-distant
big cities, swarmed in on his place
in response to a little newspaper
publicity.
| A 6-foot Douglas fir sells for
around *$3.50 on a tree farm, per
haps twice as much in the city.
In addition, the family tha!
drives out into the hinterland—
Nielsen lives nine miles out on i
mountainous back road—find
parking facilities, picnic tables an<
other essentials for an outing
They make a day of it
Cut Your Own
When a family shows up the:
are given a curved saw and guide*
to the growing trees, rows an*
rows of them. After they pick theii
tree and saw it down, they hau
it back to the farm, where th
price is figured by the foot
“It’s a perpetual operation,
Nielsen explained. “We ask th
customers to cut the trees two ©
three branches above the ground
Then the tree sprouts and, grow
ing about a foot a year, is read;
for cutting again in five or si:
years.”
Neilsen added that “people’
tastes differ, so growers plant fo
variety.”
Most of the plantings are Doug
las fir or three varieties of pine
Monterey, Ponderosa or Scott i
little spruce and some—hot mucl
—rddwood is grown.
Tree fanners here credit count:
farm advisor Henry Washburi
now retired, with encouraging th
start of the program in the Sant
Cruz area in 1948.
Growers point out that operatin
these tree farms* isn’t just
matter of sticking seedlings in th
ground and five or six years late
coming back to harvest the crop
There is a lot of work fighting ii
sect pests, fertilizing and keepin
weeds from getting out of hand.
')--:
AND
BEST WISHES FOR CHRISTMAS
Chase & Copsey
* "tiwiinni M.W *
At the outset a tract is Reared
completely of brush, scrub oak and
second growth timber. Then the
seedlings are planted in rows and
carefully tended, just as any other
j farm crop has to be tended to do
B its best.
A lot of the tree farmers are
„ semi-retired men like Nielsen, who
like outdoor living.
r (Continued from page 9)
* HOLIDAY SONGS, STORIES
l AND CAROLS HAVE CLEAR
c HI-FI RING THIS YEAR
, offers**Sir Malcolm Sargent con
I ducting /Messiah Highlights” and
the Berlin Philharmonic and St.
Hedwig’s Cathedral Choir in an
album of Mozart sacred music.
' ‘The Christmas Story.” And two
L Epic devotes a full album and an
1 accompanying Illustrated book to
companies have taken their record
f ing equipment behind monastery
* walls for haunting. Gregorian
B masterpieces sung by the monks of
a the Abbey of St Pierre de
Solesmes in France (London) and
l the Trappist monks of Gethsemani,
i Ky., (Columbia). :
s This year, happily, the trend is
r away from gimmicks and odd-ball
>; instruments in Christmas record
i- ings and back to first class
g 1005101305 playing and singing first,
class music.
JIM AND DON’S
Town Club
g Are Pleased to Announce
t A New Attraction
N
rp - Fabulous
A Miss Marjorie Hazelwood
“Radio’s Lady of Song”
Pianist and Vocalist from Hollywood playing
D and singing Popular Melodies and Old Favor
t ites.
N Beginning Bee. 12
Miss Hazelwood Is a terrific entertainer
E and we invite you to drop in and listen
g to her different style
W W O cn ^ o <x> >• M rj-j
33 H pcj td
Try The New Cuisine
as prepared by
Chef McDowell
and Cocktails
Mixed By
DON and JESS
iTm & Dm’s** TOWN CLUB
yH
Give Live Tree
Plenty Of Water
. If you get a living Christmas
tree this year, do remember that
like ahy house plant it requires
plenty of water. Otherwise you
might as well, or better, have a cut
tree.
A secret of maxing a living tree
worthwliile is to plant it as soon
after Christmas as possible. Com
mon among the living trees are
Norway spruce, Scotch pine and
'•V' *
balsam firs. They grow large and
should not be u£ed as foundation
plantings.
In setting them out, select a weH
drained site,' dig a pH consider
ably larger than the earth ball, and
tamp in plenty of good* top so*
mixed with, peat moss or compost
gifts for shut-ins
If you like to grow potted
plants, plan to have several o»
hand to give at Christmas time
A bright plant is an especially
welcome gift for a shut-in.
----1
ROUND TRIP '
ONLY$ 204
ANCHORAGE
CORDOVA
Through Service
farts Plus Tax
Cell'' 4T31
Office, Main Street
wSBim8>
mm*
*44*JIMM
Our entire staff Joins in wishing
yoy a Christmas that is filled with
peace and happiness!!