176 RHAMNUS CATHAllTICUS. 



New York, and is cultivated for iiso and oriiamoiit in tlic various countries of 

 Europe and of Xorth America. 



The first cultivated tree of this species in the United States, of which we 

 have any record, stood in the garden of the venerable Dr. Hoi yoke, in Salem, 

 Massachusetts. It bore an abundance of fruit, which was lonir used by him, in 

 his practice, as a cathartic. On the estate of Mr. 1^. Ilersey Derby, in that 

 town, there are several buckthorn-trees, from thirty to forty years planted, which 

 have attained a height of twelve or fifteen feet, and bear an abundance of berries 

 every year. 



PioJKtgdtiou^ Culture, Uses, ^'c. The Rhamnus catharticus, in common 

 with most plants of its genus, may be easily propagated by seeds, or by cuttings 

 and layers. It prefers a rich, moist soil, in rather a shady situation ; i)ut it will 

 thrive in any place where the current or gooseberry will succeed. It is culti- 

 vated in Europe as an ornamental shrub, and is becoming of great utility in 

 America as a hedge-plant, as will be seen by the following extract from Mr. Der- 

 by's paper in the " Transactions of the Essex Agricultural Society." " In the 

 year 1808, I happened to have some yomig plants which had come up from the 

 chance-scattered seeds of the American buckthorn,* and finding they had made 

 a good growth in the nursery to which they had been removed, I determined to 

 try to form a hedge of them, and I have been well pleased with the result. They 

 were set out in 1809, and very soon became a fine hedge, of about twenty rods 

 in length, which has remained so until the present time, [Sept. 1842] not a sin- 

 gle plant having failed from it, nor have I ever known it to be attacked by any 

 insect. This hedge being my first experiment with the buckthorn, I did not 

 keep it down so closely as I have since fovmd it expedient to do, and conse- 

 quently it is not quite so impervious at the bottom as some of my younger- hedges, 

 whicTi ha\^e been more severely pruned. Being fully satisfied that I had at last 

 found the plant I wanted, I have, since that time, set out various hedges of it, at 

 different periods, until I can now measure one hundred and sixty rods of them, 

 all, in my opinion, good hedges ; and I do not hesitate to pronounce the buck- 

 thorn the most suitable plant for the purpose that I have ever met with. It veg- 

 etates early in the spring, and retains its verdure late in autumn. I have often 

 seeii it green after the snow had fallen. Being a native plant, it is never injured 

 by our most intense cold, and its vitality is so great that the young plants may 

 be kept out of the ground for a long time, or transported any distance without 

 injury. It never sends up any suckers, nor is disfigured by any dead wood ; it can 

 be clipped into any shape which the caprice or ingenuity of the gardener may 

 devise ; and being pliable, it may be trained into an arch, or over a passage-way, 

 as easily as a vine ; it needs no plashing or interlacing, the natural growth of the 

 plants being sufficiently interwoven. It is never cankered by unskilful clipping, 

 but will bear the knife to any degree. During the last winter, I found one of 

 my hedges had grown too high, casting too much shadow over a portion of my 

 garden, and wishing to try how much it would endure, I directed my gardener 

 to cut it down within four feet of the ground. This was done in mid-winter, 

 and not Avithout some misgivings on my own part, and much discouraging 

 advice from others ; but it leaved out as early in the spring as other hedges, and 

 is now a mass of verdure. I have been applied to for young plants by persons 

 who have seen and admired my hedges, and have sent them to various states in 

 the union, and I have never, in any instance, heard of their failure. 



" My method of forming a hedge is to set the young plants in a single row, 

 about nine inches apart, either in the spring or autumn ; if the latter, I should 

 clip it in the following spring, within six inches of the ground; this will cause 



* The writer believing it to be a native plant. 



