PURGING BUCKTHORN. 
177 
the hedge to be thick at the bottom, which I regard as a great point of excel- 
lence ; after this, all that remains to be done is to keep it from weeds, and clip it 
once a year. I consider June as the best time to trim it, as it soonest recovers 
its beauty at that season. The clipping may be done either with the garden- 
shears, a hedge-knife, or even with a common scythe." 
The adjoining figure will show a pleasing mode of growing a hedge of this 
species in front of a dwelling, or in 
enclosing ornamental grounds. As 
the plants will attain a considerable 
height, they may be trained over an 
arch or trellis, and form a beautiful, 
densely-shaded arbour or walk. 
It appears from the above that this species is very eligible for forming hedges, 
in consequence of its robust and rigid habit of growth. Although it does not 
make much show, when in flower, yet in autumn and early winter, when pro- 
fusely covered with black berries, it becomes highly ornamental. 
The wood of the Rhamnus catharticus is hard, compact, and of a reddish hue. 
The juice of the unripe berries has the colour of saffron, and is used for staining 
paper and maps. They are known in commerce under the name of French ber- 
ries. The juice of the ripe berries, evaporated to dryness with lime or alum, is 
the sap-green of painters ; but if the berries are gathered late in autumn, their 
juice is purple. They are strongly purgative, if eaten to the number of twenty- 
five or thirty, while an ounce of the expressed juice is required to produce the 
same effect. They were formerly much employed as a cathartic, but the violent 
operation, and the sickness, griping and thirst occasioned by them, have led to 
their disuse. The syrup of buckthorn, (syrupus rhamni,) is the only preparation 
at present employed in Pharmacy. The inner bark of this tree affords a beautiful 
yellow die, and like that of the common elder, is a strong cathartic, when taken, 
and excites vomiting. 
23 
