Twenty dollars for a six-foot Christmas tree or $30 for an eight-foot one.

Yes! These are local prices for `real' trees this year. Many residents might have assumed the cost of Christmas trees would rise like most everything else, but that is not the case. In fact, over the last several years, the price of Christmas trees locally appears to have been chopped in half.

Residents may recall the tree shortages of the early 1990s when desperate shoppers were paying as much as $60 to $100 for a tree.

Importing trees from Vermont is one reason why lower prices are being offered this Yuletide season.

Importer Gary Mello said this is the first time he has brought in trees from the US state. He explained that the discovery of the pine scale insect in several fields in Canada led him to augment his shipment with `clean' trees from elsewhere. Inspectors from the Department of Agriculture in a trip to Quebec in late October, had discovered pine scale insect infestation in many trees that would have been Bermuda bound.

Worked off his feet from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Mr. Mello's business was non-stop. By dusk he had sold more than 1,000 trees in the Bermuda Athletic Association car park.

"But most of those were not in the $20-$30 range.'' he said.

"We have some small, what we call table-top sheared trees, and those are $20 each.'' he said. "But mostly we've sold trees six foot to seven foot, then fivefoot to six foot, then seven foot to eight foot'' he continued.

"This year we are selling trees at $9.00 per foot'' he said.

"Last year we bailed the Island out of the Christmas tree (shortage) and just grabbed trees from wherever we could, and we sold those for between $10 and $10.50 per foot.'' he explained.

Although business was not so hectic yesterday, Mr. Mello stayed at it even during the rain.

"Business has been much slower today,'' he told The Royal Gazette yesterday afternoon, "I've only sold just over a hundred trees so far today.'' Mr. Mello together with Richard Powell of Lines Food and Liquor, have imported 19 containers of Christmas trees, 10 from Quebec and nine from Vermont.

"We'll have over 5,000 trees in total'' Mr. Mello noted, "and they've all come from clean fields.'' "The smallest and the largest trees we brought in are from Vermont.'' he said. "The table tops and the large trees that we brought in for the Corporation of Hamilton are all from Vermont.

"We will also be bringing in some nice naturals up to eight foot tall and they will only be $20 to $30.'' he said "Those trees will come in tomorrow and will be sold at Barnes Corner, Tynes Bay, my vegetable stand on Woodlawns Road and Lines on Ord Road.'' he added.

A slew of handy elves are promised to be on hand at each of those locations and Mr. Mello stressed the importance of getting the bottom half inch or inch sawed off trees this year.

"Our elves will saw off a section of the bottom of the tree for you and that is very important this year as the trees have sapped over.'' he said.

"There was a mild winter this year and so the trees did not go into a deep freeze.'' he explained. "This is why they have sapped over and it means that they will not be able to absorb any water unless their bottoms are cut off.'' "I would strongly urge anyone buying a tree to ensure that their supplier cuts the bottom off. If they will not, don't buy it.'' he insisted.

"And all trees should be put in a container of water which should be checked and filled every two days.'' he suggested, "If people keep up on the watering of their trees , they should last them well into February.'' he said.