200 IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE Vol. XXVI, 1913 



date is not given, but it must have been between 1868 and 1870, 

 about the time the barberry began to be distributed as a hedge plant. ^'' 



It would appear to us that most of the older barberry bushes in 

 the state go back to the seventies. Mrs. William Larrabee, Sr., of 

 Clermont, a woman of unusually keen intellect, told me that the 

 barberry bushes on their place were planted by Governor Larrabee 

 in 1876, largely because of the reported value as a plant to "turn 

 stock", and the governor's interest in the plant because of his boy- 

 hood recollection of Connecticut. 



The barberry was occasionally planted in the prairie region for 

 protection to stop the drifting snows in the winter, according to Mr. , 

 Ingram of Garner, who planted a hedge on his place in Hancock I 

 county many years ago. On the Hoag farm a hedge was also 

 l)lanted for this purpose about forty years ago (in 1878) according . 

 to Mr. Ingram. I 



The discussions on the barberry in the report of the Iowa State 

 Horticultural Society are of interest to us, as giving us some of 

 the history. Col. John Scott of Nevada wrote :^' "I have a few plants 

 of this shrub that grow so thickly and so bristly with thorns, 

 that only a small bird can penetrate them. I have not yet used it 

 for a fence, but believe it would answer a good purpose. Unlike 

 rhe willow, it is a shrub, and thorny. It grows in rich soils, and 

 with pruning and cultivating attains a height of twenty to thirty 

 feet, but in ordinary hedge row, may readily be kept at a height of 

 five or six feet. Owing to a very general but erroneous impression, 

 that the bushes cause rust in wheat, it has not been largely planted. 

 It is subject to a species of rust, but this is entirely dififerent from 

 that of the wheat plant." 



"It is propagated by layers, cutting, seeds, suckers of offshoots, 

 and grows with little care. Left to itself it throws up numerous 

 suckers from its base, making it very close at the foot, and as it bears 

 the shears well, I see no reason why it would not make a very close 

 hedge and occupy but little room." In 1876 C. L. Watrous reported 

 to the Iowa State Horticultural Society as follows -^^ "The Society 

 has sometimes discussed the barberry as a hedge plant. I have to 

 report one experiment with it. In 1874, A. Nighswander, of Dallas 

 county, planted 100 yards or so of barberry hedge, using two year 

 old plants. The same season, oats growing near it rusted badly, 

 while the balance of the field escaped. In 1875 wheat near it was 



leHistory of Muscatine county 672-673, 1911. 

 ]TRep. la. State Hort. Soc. 1!S7G; 152. 

 isRep. la. Hort. Soc. 1JS7IS; 152-153. 



