THE BARBERRY IN IOWA 209 



sometimes the center of the ckimp contains numerous decayed 

 remants of old stalks and new shoots are formed every year from 

 the old roots. The diameter of a bush therefore increases every 

 year so that the old bushes found near Montpelier on the Lowry 

 place which measured twelve feet across must be of long standing. 



THE WILD BARBERRY. 



It is not surprising that the barberry should have escaped from 

 cultivation since many other shrubs and some trees have escaped 

 from cultivation like Loniccra fafarica, Junipcriis virginiana. As 

 the studies of barberry have continued the number of places where 

 the barberry has escaped from cultivation is increasing. Wild plants 

 were noted at the following points by me : Garner, Postville, Cler- 

 mont, Montpelier, McGregor, LeClaire, Kelley, Carroll county, 

 Monmouth, Clear Lake, Iowa Lake, Iowa; Galena and Port Byron, 

 Illinois. 



The Wild Barberries at Garner — During the month of September, 

 1918, Miss Winifred Gilbert called my attention to some escaped 

 barberries near Concord in Hancock county. The place was visited 

 and the following facts learned about the escaped plants. The 

 present owner of the wood lot is Mr. Hedden. The editor of the 

 Garner Signal, Mr. Clark, informed the writer that a Mr. Bailey 

 ran a nursery on this farm about 1878, and later the nursery was 

 operated by a Mr. Doolittle for a few years. The place was then 

 purchased, according to Mrs. Hedden, by Mr. C. Cramer in 1881, 

 Mr. Hedden operating the place since 1891. The Heddens and 

 Cramers never sold any nursery stock. The place was allowed to 

 take care of itself, either as a pasture or as a hog lot. The plants 

 had escaped on both sides of the road, but the barberry was 

 originally on the south side. Some of the old plants are still standing 

 in the nursery row. These plants have scattered in every direction 

 where there were groves. Most of the wild plants are found within 

 a quarter of a mile from the original nursery stock, but few were 

 found one-half mile from the original plants. The plants to the 

 west in a white willow grove, were mostly small, two to four years 

 old, although there were a few somewhat older and a few seedlings. 

 Most of the wild barberry plants to the west of the original nursery 

 next to the fence were small. The larger wild plants occurred to 

 the north along the highway fence and in a hog lot. Some were 

 found in a willow hedge east and north from the hog pasture and 

 a few isolated plants along the line fence to the east, separated 



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