BAEBBEBT. .21 



edible fruit, but it is so very difficult to determine them at 

 the present time, and as botanists are not fully agreed upon 

 this point, I shall content myself with classifying them as 

 merely varieties of the foregoing species. 



HISTORY. 



There is very little in the history of the Barberry that is 

 of any particular interest to the people of the present day. 

 Some writers suppose that Pliny had reference to this plant 

 where he says, in his 24th Book, Chap. 13, " There is a 

 kind of thorny bush called Appendix, for that there be red 

 berries hanging thereto which be likewise named Apen- 

 dices." Whether it was really the Barberry, or some simi- 

 lar sh'rub, which he referred to we have no means of 

 knowing. 



Gerarde, an English author who wrote in 1597, says 

 that the young leaves of the Barberry bush were used as 

 a salad in his time. 



PROPAGATION. 



BY SEEDS. Gather the berries when fully ripe, and put 

 into boxes until the pulp has become soft, then wash out 

 the seeds, and either sow them or put away in sand until 

 wanted. 



It is best to sow them in the fall, for, if delayed until 

 spring, and the seeds become dry, a portion of them, at 

 least, will not grow. In sections of the country where the 

 weather is likely to be very hot and dry in summer, a half- 

 shady place should be selected for the seed-bed, as there is 

 sometimes danger of the young plants being burned off 

 when they first appear above ground. Sow the seeds in 

 drills, and cover them about one inch deep ; keep the weeds 

 down, and stir the soil often. 



Transplant when one or two years old, and al the time 

 of removal shorten the tap-root about one-third. 



Early spring is the best time to transplant the Barberry 

 in the Northern States. 



