THE 



Canadian Horticulturist 



Vol. XIX. 



1896. 



No. 7. 



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~c^ 



THE BARBERRY. 



EDGES, such as form the pretty boundary of country 

 lanes in England, are few enough in Canada. Our Can- 

 adian farmers have as yet been so busy with the neces- 

 saries that the ornamental has been neglected. But the 

 time is at hand for an improvement in this regard ; when 

 our country roads will no longer be margined by the 

 ugly snake fence, or even by stiff boards or pickets, but 

 by a graceful border of living green. 



Though perhaps not forming so effective a hedge as 

 the thorn for turning cattle, the barberry succeeds 

 better in Canada, and will grow on stony or sandy lan(i 

 where many shrubs would fail. It is quite ornamental 

 too with its racemes of flowers in spring, and scarlet 



berries in autumn which hang the winter through, reminding us of Longfellow's 



couplet in Hiawatha, 



" Where the tangled barberry bushes 

 Hang their tufts of crimson berries. " 



There are a good many varieties of this shrub, about thirty being described 

 by Nicolson in his Dictionary of Gardening. The Common Barberry, (Berberis 

 vulgaris) which is a native of Britain, is a free grower and forms an excellent 

 hedge. There are a good many variations in coloring of fruit and foliage which 

 when constant are indicated by distinct names. The one which forms the 

 frontispiece of this number is called B. vulgaris purpurea because of the purple 

 color of the foliage, which makes it a highly ornamental shrub. On poor sandy 



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