BEL 



BER 



very early spring months. Where they grow 

 transplanting them every other year may 

 l , : • enough. In performing this business 

 taken to select the largest, fullest, 

 ami he ■: double varieties, rejecting all such as 

 . tendency to degenerate. Though the 

 a II si portions will grow, it is the hist prac- 

 tii i vide them too much, as they pro- 



duce a better show, and are not so liable to he 

 destroyed by the summer heats. They should 

 be planted out where they are to remain ; or, if 

 a large supply be necessary, the small slips may 

 be planted together in rows in beds, six or eight 

 inches apart each way. It' they be planted in a 

 warm sunny exposure, their blowing in the 

 spring is considerably promoted. This is the me- 

 thod commonly practised in order to bring them 

 early foi sale in the markets. 



.Some plant them as edgings to beds, borders, 

 or other divisions in gardens ; but, from their 

 being liable to be di stroyed in the summer by 

 heat, they are not well adapted to the purpose. 

 f\Jr. Curtis, however, thinks that they produce 

 a good effect in this way, and advises that they 

 should be taken up in the beginning of the au- 

 tumn, and then divided into single plants and 

 set in trenches, three inches from plant to plant, 

 and not put in holes by the dibble, the fibres of 

 the roots being spread out, and the earth pressed 

 closely to them. In this way they are less 

 liable to be disturbed by worms. This work 

 must be done every year, or the plants are apt to 

 spread too much where they grow well. 



These plants produce much variety and effect 

 when properly distributed in patches in the 

 fronts and other conspicuous parts of the bor- 

 ders and clumps of pleasure-grounds and gardens, 

 in assemblage with other perennials of similar 

 growth. 



BELT, a stripe or breadth of land, planted 

 with trees and shrubs on the sides or oilier pails 

 of pleasure-grounds, for the purpose of orna- 

 ment or shelter. 



In forming plantations of this sort, attention 

 should be had to different circumstances : such 

 as situation, surface, ornamental effect, shelter, 

 division, and the covering of such objects as 

 may be wished to be concealed. 



In the business of planting them, such a 

 mixture and variety of trees should be intro- 

 duced, as may afford the must agreeable and or- 

 namental effects at all the different seasons of the 

 year. In the arrangement of the plant--, those 

 of the largest and tallest growth should occupy 

 the middle and back places ; the fronts and 

 more coospifcuous parts being tilled up by those 

 of the less elevated and mure shrubby growths. 



All the deciduous and finest kind* oi 

 proper for being employed in this v 

 assemblai e with thoseof theevergreen am! flow- 

 ering kinds. 



These plantations may be made either in the 

 autumn or the earlj ing, according to ch> 

 cumstances ; the former being the best where 

 the soil is dry, but in moist retentive soils the 

 latter should alwavs be preferred. See Cll'»u\ 



BENJAMI N-f REE. See Laurus. 



BERBERIS, a genus containing shrubby 

 plants of the hardy deciduous kind. The Pip- 

 peridge Bush. 



It belongs to the class and order H 

 Monogyma, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Berier'ides of Jussieu. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a six- 

 leaved perianthium : the leaflets are ovate, 

 with a narrow base, concave, alternately smaller, 

 coloured, and deciduous : the < 

 six roundish, concave, erect-expandm. 

 scarcely larger than the calyx: the nectary con- 

 sists of two small, roundish, coloured bodies. fast- 

 ened to the base of each petal : the stamina con- 

 sist of six erect, compressed, obtuse filaments: the 

 anthers two, fastened on each side to the top of 

 the filaments: the pistillum is a cylindric germ, 

 the length of the stamens : the style wanting : 

 the stigma orbiculate, broader than the germ, 

 surrounded with a sharp edge : the pericarpium 

 is a cylindric berry, obtuse, umbilicated with 

 a point, and one-celled: the seeds two, oblong, 

 cylindric, and obtuse : the second species has 

 three seeds. 



The species most generally cultivated are : 1. 

 B. vulgaris, Common Berberry. 2. B. Cniica, 

 Cretan Berberry. 



The first is a shrub rising to the height of eight 

 or ten feet : the stems are upright and branched, 

 smooth and slightly grooved ; brittle, with a large 

 white pith, and covered with a whitish or ash- 

 coloured bark, which is yellow on the inside. 

 Both stems and branches are armed with sharp 

 thorns, which commonly grow by threes: thefirst 

 leaves are obovate, serrate-cih.ite, not jointed : 

 the stipules are terminated on each side by a 

 capillary tooth : stem-leaves alternate; the lowest 

 subpinnatind with spiny teeth : the secondary 

 leaves are in pairs ; they are oblong and serrate ; 

 and between the lowermost leaves and the 

 thorns smaller leaves arc concealed: the (lowers 

 are in pendulous racemes towards the ends of the 

 branches, with a bracte to each pedicel: the 

 corolla is yellow : petals frequently serrate about 

 the edge: at the base of each aie two orange- 

 coloured dots, which arc probably the nectaries : 

 the anthers are roundish and yellow : the stigma 



