BEL 



BER 



very early spring months. Wlicrc tlicy grew 

 s1l)\\!v, transplanting iheni every other year niay 

 be oi\cn enough. In performing this business 

 care should be wken to select the fargest, fullest, 

 and bcft double varieties, rejecting all such as 

 show any tendency to degenerate. Tliough the 

 Fnialkst'portions will grow, it is the best prac- 

 tice not to divide them too nuich, as they pro- 

 duce a better show, and arc not so liable to be 

 destroyed by the summer heats. They should 

 be plaiited out where they arc to remain ; or, if 

 a larQ;c supply be accessary, the small slips may 

 be j)Tanted together in row s in beds, six or eight 

 inches apart each way. If they be planted in a 

 warm sunny exposure, their blowing in the 

 spring is considerably promoted .This is the me- 

 thod commonly practised in order to bring ihcm 

 early for sale in the markets. 



Some plant them as edgings to beds, borders, 

 or other divisions in gardens ; but, from their 

 beino- liable to be destroyed in the summer by 

 heat, they are not well adapted to the purpose. 

 Mr. Curtis, however, thinks that they produce 

 a good efll-ct in this way, and advises that they 

 should be taken up in the beginning of the au- 

 tumn, and then divided into single plants and 

 set in trenches, three inches from plant to plant, 

 and not put in holes by thcdibble, the fibres of 

 the roots being spread out, and the earth pressed 

 closely to them. In this way they are less 

 liable to be disturbed by worms. This work 

 must be done every year, or (he plants are apt to 

 spread too much where they grow well. 



These plants produce much variety and effect 

 when properly distributed in patches in the 

 fronts and other conspicuous parts of the bor- 

 ders and elumpsof pleasure-grounds and gardens, 

 in assemblage with other perennials of similar 



OTOWtll, 



BEJT, a stripe or breadth of land, planted 

 with trees and shrubs on the sides or other parts 

 of pleasure-grounds, for the purpose of orna- 

 meiU or shelter. 



lu forming plantations of this sort, attention 

 slioiild be had to different circumstances ; such 

 as situation, surface, ornamental effect, shelter, 

 division, and the covering of such objects as 

 ni;iY be wished to be concealed. 



In the business of planting them, such a 

 mi.xture and variety of trees should be intro- 

 duced, as may affxird the most agreeable and or- 

 namental clTeets at all the different seasons of the 

 year. In the arrangement of the plants, those 

 of the largest and tallest growth should occupy 

 the middle and back places ; the fronts and 

 more conspicuous parts being filled up by those 

 of the less elevated and more shrubby crowtbs. 



All tlic deciduous and finest kinds of trees are 

 proper for being employed in this way, in due 

 asseniblage with those of the evergreen and flow- 

 ering kinds. 



These plantations may be made either in the 

 autunm or the earlv spring, according to cir- 

 cumstances ; the former being the best where 

 the soil is dry, but in moist retentive soils the 

 latter should alwavs be preferred. See Clump. 

 BENJAMIN-TKEE. SeeLAURUS. 

 EERBERIS, a genus containing shrubby 

 plants of the hardy deciduous kind. The Pip - 

 peridge Bush. 



It belongs to the class and order Hexaiidria 

 Moiio^iinia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Bii'l'crides of Jussirni. 



The characters arc : that the calyx is a six- 

 lca\ed pcrianthiuni : the leaflets are ovate, 

 with a narrow base, concave, alternately smaller, 

 coloured, and deciduous : the corolla consists of 

 six roundish, concave, erect-expanding petals, 

 scarcely larger than the calyx: the nectary con- 

 sists of'two small, roundish, coloured bodies, fast- 

 ened to the base of each petal: the stamina con- 

 sist of six erect, compressed, obtuse filaments; the 

 anthers two, fastened on each side to the top of 

 the filaments : the pistillum is a cylindnc germ, 

 the length of the stamens : the style wanting : 

 the stigma orbieulate, broader than the germ, 

 surrounded with a sharp edge : the pcricarpium 

 is a cylindrie berry, obtuse, umbilieated with 

 a point, and one-celled : the seeds two, oblong, 

 cylindrie, and obtuse : the second species has 

 three seeds. 



The species most generally cultivated are : 1. 

 B. vulgaris, Conniion Berberry. 2. B, Crelka, 

 Cretan Berberry. 



The first is a shrub rising to the height of eight 

 or ten feet ; the stems are upright and branched, 

 smooth and slightly grooved, fcttle, with a large 

 white pith, and covered with a whitish or ash- 

 coloured bark, which is yellow on the inside. 

 Both stems and branches are armed with sharp 

 thorns, which connnonly grow by threes: the first 

 leaves are obovate, serrate-ciliate, not jointed : 

 the stipules arc terminated on each side by a 

 capillary tooth : stem-leaves alternate; the low est 

 subpinnatifid with spiny teeth : the secondary 

 leaves are in pairs; they arc oblong and serrate ; 

 and between the lowermost leaves and the 

 thorns smaller leaves are concealed: the flowers 

 are in pendulous racemes towards the ends of the 

 branches, with a bracte to each pedicel : the 

 corolla is yellow : petals frequently serrate about 

 the edge : at the base of each are two orange-, 

 eolourcd dots, which are probably the nectaries ; 

 the anthers are roundish and yc-'How : the stigm;^ 



