474 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



stalks coming from the axil of the lower leaves, or beneath 

 them. They are large and globose, and contain 4 prismatic, 

 cartilaginous seeds or nuts. 



The fruit of the buckthorn was formerly employed in medicine 

 as a purgative, but is too violent and drastic to be safely used, 

 and is now chiefly confined to veterinary practice, to which it 

 is well adapted. The saffron-colored juice of the unripe berries, 

 called French berries by dyers, is used as a paint and a dye. 

 Sap green is made of the inspissated juice of the ripe berries, 

 with alum and gum Arabic. If gathered very late they yield a 

 purple instead of a green color. The bark furnishes a beautiful 

 yellow dye ; or, dryed, it colors brown. The wood of the roots 

 is yellowish-brown, with a satiny lustre, and very compact, and 

 may be employed by the turner. Sheep and goats are fond of 

 the leaves, but cattle refuse them. 



The buckthorn is well suited to form hedges, either by itself 

 or still better in conjunction with the thorn. It bears pruning, 

 grows rapidly, is tough, and not liable to the attacks of in- 

 sects, and is hardy, and not difficult as to soil. It puts forth its 

 leaves early in the spring and retains them late in the fall ; and 

 its bunches of rich black berries are very showy in the autumn. 

 It may be propagated by seed, which comes up the first season, 

 or by suckers or layers. 



The seed should be sown in the fall, when fresh from the 

 tree. It vegetates early next spring. The plants may remain 

 in the seed-bed a year, and then be transferred to the nursery 

 until they are eighteen inches or two feet high, when they may 

 be planted in a single or double row, eight or nine inches apart, 

 for a hedge. As soon as they begin to vegetate, they should be 

 headed down to within six inches of the ground. This causes 

 them to thicken at the bottom; — an important point, whether 

 utility or beauty is considered. 



Sp. 2. The Alder-Leaved Buckthorn. R. alnifolius. L'Heritier. 



A stout, very leafy bush, three or four feet high, growing in 

 clumps, in moist lands, with a dark colored stem and grayish 

 branches. The leaves are broad-oval, two or three inches long, 



