THE BARBERRY AND ELDERBERRY. 573 



metrical head, rather open in the middle, and not of greater height 

 than a man can conveniently reach from the ground to perform the 

 necessary operations of pruning and gathering." The fruit is pro- 

 duced from the preceding year's wood, and in unpruned trees is always 

 most abundant at the extremities of the branches, where the leaves of 

 the preceding year have had abundance of light and air. Hence the im- 

 portance of pruning so as to keep the bush open in thecentre. The spring, 

 at the time the male blossoms are shedding their pollen, is the best 

 time for pruning, as by the shaking of the trees the pollen is diffused. 

 The young shoots should be shortened to half their length, cutting to 

 a female blossom, and removing all side suckers. If a plantation is to 

 consist of a single row, the plants may be placed from eight feet to ten 

 feet apart ; but if there are to be several rows together, the intervals 

 between them may be ten feet or twelve feet. The whole may be treated 

 like a plantation of currants on a large scale. The usual situation for 

 a plantation of filberts is the orchard, where single rows may be intro- 

 duced, for a few years, between rows of standard fruit trees. If a separate 

 plantation of filberts is formed, currants or gooseberries may be intro- 

 duced in the intervals between the plants for four or five years care 

 being taken to destroy them whenever their branches are within a 

 foot or two of the filberts. A plantation of filberts will last twenty 

 years, and if occasionally manured, it will produce from 20 to 30 cwt. 

 of nuts per acre annually. The nut weevil lays its eggs in the fruit 

 in June, where it is hatched, and escapes in August. There is no 

 practical preventive of this insect, and all that the gardener can do is 

 to remove all the nuts that have been perforated by it. The fruit is 

 gathered when the calyx turns brown, and at a time when it is quite 

 dry, and it may be preserved through the winter with the husks, or in 

 dry sand, or in air-tight vessels. Some put them into large garden- 

 pots, sprinkling a little salt amongst them, which is said to preserve 

 the husks from getting mouldy and rotting ; the pots are turned bottom 

 upwards on boards, and covered with earth or sand to exclude the air. 

 The dealers subject them to the fumes of sulphur in close vessels, when 

 Hewly gathered and dried, in order to improve the colour of the calyx. 



The Barberry, Magellan Sweet Barberry, Nepal Barberry, Elderberry, 

 and Cornelian Cherry. 



The barberry (Berberis vulgaris, L.) is a deciduous shrub, a native 

 of Britain in woods and hedges on dry soil, and sometimes planted in 

 gardens for its fruit, which is not eaten raw, but is excellent when 

 preserved in sugar, in syrup, or candied. The berries are also made 

 into jelly and rob, both of which are not only delicious to the taste, 

 but extremely wholesome, and they are pickled in vinegar when 

 green as a substitute for capers. They are also used instead of lemon 

 for flavouring punch, for garnishing dishes, and for various other pur- 

 poses, independently of their medicinal properties. 



The Magellan Sweet Barberry (Berberis dulcis, D. Don, syn. B. 

 buxifolia, B. rotundifolia) has round black berries about the size of 

 those of the black currant, which are produced in great abundance, 



