no Ornamental Shrubs. 



to answer the purpose of cut flowers, retaining their good 

 qualities for a long time. Unlike most of the crabs, the 

 blossoms do not appear until the foliage is well advanced, 

 the bush being thus in leaf and flower at the same time, 

 a decided novelty in this class of plants. The tree is a 

 rather slow grower when young, but has the habit of 

 blooming when very small, often when not more than two 

 feet high. This, in connection with the fact that it 

 lengthens the season of apple-blossoming nearly two weeks, 

 makes it especially desirable in connection with the other 

 and earlier sorts. 



BERBERIS Barberry. 



THIS is an interesting group of hardy plants, with 

 an Arabic name, though indigenous to many sec- 

 tions of Europe, Asia, and America, as well as 

 Arabia. A few are evergreens, but by far the greater 

 number are deciduous, growing in bushy forms and in 

 almost every kind of soil, though not favorably disposed 

 to low, marshy situations. It is said that there are some 

 fifty species, to which may be added several varieties of 

 special value and well known in cultivation. Some are 

 but a few inches in height, with round, compact heads, 

 while others grow to ten or twenty feet, specimens occa- 

 sionally appearing in tree form rather than as bushes or 

 shrubs. They have, as a rule, yellowish wood and inner 

 bark, ovate and pointed thorny foliage slightly serrate, and 

 numerous yellow flowers. The fruit is mostly scarlet or 

 crimson, and so intensely acid that birds will not eat it ; 

 but, properly prepared with sugar, the berries of some 



