5G 



HARDY EVERGREEN FLOWERING SHRUBS. 

 BERBERIS JAPONICA. 



BY MR. JOHN STANDISH, OF 



Berberis Japonica is a plant of rare 

 excellence. It is doubtful whether our 

 gardens possess a shrub which can 

 compete with it in general beauty — 

 certainly they have none which can 

 surpass it. Its foliage is magnificent 

 and unique ; its flowers are delight- 

 fully and powerfully fragrant ; its 

 fruit forms a very striking feature in 

 itself, and, withal, it is perfectly hardy 

 and evergreen. 

 A strong 

 healthy plant 

 will produce 

 leaves eight- 

 een or twenty 

 inches long. 

 These are usu- 

 ally composed 

 of four or five 

 pairs of leaf- 

 lets, and a ter- 

 minal one, the 

 latter being 

 often sixinches 

 long, by four 

 or five broad. 



The flowers, 

 which are yel- 

 low, and, as 

 I have said, 

 very fragrant, 

 (having an od- 

 our, combin- 

 ing the frag- 

 rance of the 

 Daphne with 

 that of the 

 Tea Rose) are 

 borne in large 

 terminal clus- 

 ters of erect 

 racemes; but, 

 as the fruit 



ripens, they become pendant. The ber- 

 ries are oval, and resemble in colour, 

 rich, purple grapes, and they are indi- 

 vidually as large as moderate-sized 

 ones. So abundant are they, that I 

 have gathered clusters weighing a 

 pound. 



The plant is a native of China, from 

 wlunce it was sent to this country by 

 Mr. Fortune, who tells me he has seen 



THE ROYAL NURSERY, BAGSHOT. 



specimens twelve feet high, and as 

 much through. 



For successful cultivation it requires 

 a very rich soil, and a cool, shady situa- 

 tion, as under, or near trees. For such 

 positions it will be invaluable. There 

 are, however, as I need hardly state, 

 difficulties in the way of successful 

 culture in such localities — the roots of 

 old, or well-established trees forming, 

 under ordi- 

 nary circum- 

 stances, a for- 

 midable ob- 

 stacle to the 

 progress of the 

 new comer. 



In obviating 

 these difficul- 

 ties, the fol- 

 lowing mode 

 will be found 

 valuable, and 

 not merely 

 with reference 

 to the plant 

 in question, 

 but for nume- 

 rous others, 

 which may be 

 most advanta- 

 geously plant- 

 ed under like 

 conditions, and 

 there are very 

 many fine 

 shrubs which 

 present them- 

 selves for our 

 con sideratio n 

 in this respect. 

 In the spot 

 where it is de- 

 sired to plant, 

 dig a hole of the size required — say 

 a yard deep, and as much in dia- 

 meter, and case it with brick-work ; if 

 the bricks are laid in cement, so much 

 the better. On the third course from 

 the bottom, lay across some rough 

 pieces of plank, to form a foundation 

 for the soil above to rest upon. Then 

 carry up the brick-work to the ground 

 level. On the planks place some 



