BARBERRY. 



BARBERRY. 



of the barb is usually indicative of its spirit, 

 and the facial line, in direct contradiction to 

 that of the Arabian, is often slightly rounded; 

 the eyes are prominent; the ears, though fre- 

 quently small and pointed, are occasionally ra- 

 ther long and drooping : the neck is of sufficient 

 length ; the crest is generally fine and not over- 

 laden with mane ; the shoulders are ilat and 

 oblique ; the withers prominent, and the chest 

 almost invariably deep ; the back is usually 

 straight ; the carcass moderately rounded only ; 

 the croup long, and the tail placed rather high ; 

 the arms and thighs being commonly muscu- 

 lar and strongly marked ; the knee and hock 

 are broad and low placed; the back sinews 

 singularly distinct and well-marked from the 

 knee downwards ; the pasterns rather long, 

 and the feet firm, and but moderately open. 



The barb requires more excitement to call 

 out his powers than the Arabian ; but when 

 sufficiently stimulated, his qualities of speed 

 and endurance render him a powerful antago- 

 nist, while the superior strength of his fore- 

 hand enables him to carry the greater weight 

 of the two. The Godolphin barb, which was 

 imported from France into England, at the con- 

 clusion of the last century, about 25 years 

 after the Darley Arabian, was one of those 

 most worthy of note. The former appears to 

 have rivalled the latter in the importance of 

 his get. He was the sire of Lath, Cade, Ba- 

 braham, Regulus, Bajazet, Tarquin, Dormouse, 

 Sultan, Blank, Dismal, and many other horses 

 of racing note ; and without doubt, the Eng- 

 lish blood-breeds were more indebted to the 

 Darley Arabian and the Godolphin barb than 

 to all the other eastern horses which had pre- 

 viously entered the country. Among other 

 barbs of some notoriety introduced in the 18th 

 century, we may mention the Thoulouse, the 

 Curwen Bay, Old Greyhound, St. Victor's, 

 Tarran's Black, Hutton's Bay, Cole's Bay, and 

 Compton's Barb. (Elaine's Encyc. Rural Sports, 

 p. 243.) 



BARBERRY, COMMON, or PIPPERIDGE 

 BUSH (Berberis vulgaris}. In England an in- 

 digenous thorny shrub, bearing bunches of 

 pale yellow drooping flowers in May, which 

 are succeeded by oblong scarlet berries, ripen- 

 ing in September. The branches are flexible, 

 covered with alternate tufts of deciduous, egg- 

 shaped, pinnated leaves, finely fringed on the 

 edge. Sharp, three-cleft thorns rise at the 

 base of each leaf-bud. The barberry likes 

 any kind of soil, and makes good hedges. It 

 may be propagated by seed, or by layers, 

 which should remain two years before they 

 are removed. The gross shoots, if the shrub 

 stands singly, should be pruned away, and it 

 will fruit better. The berries are gratefully 

 acid, and the juice, when diluted with water, 

 may be used as lemonade in fevers. The 

 leaves, eaten in salad, are like sorrel. The 

 fruit, made into conserve, is good. It is also 

 excellent as a pickle and a preserve. 



The common barberry bush is a native of 

 E^yjland; and notwithstanding the high state 

 ofybultivation that kingdom has now arrived 

 at, it is still to be found growing wild in many 

 parts of the northern counties. Gerarde says 

 in his time (1597), most of the hedges near 

 134 



Colnbrook were nothing else but barberry- 

 bushes. It is now very properly introduced 

 into our gardens and shrubberies, being both 

 ornamental and useful ; but it should not be 

 planted near the house or principal walks, on 

 account of its offensive smell when in blossom. 

 The flowers are small, but beautiful ; and, on 

 their first appearance, have a perfume similar 

 to that of the cowslip, which changes to a pu- 

 trid and most disagreeable scent, particularly 

 towards the evening, and at the decay of the 

 flowers. Barberries are of an agreeable, cool- 

 ing, astringent taste, which creates appetite. 

 The fruit and leaves give an agreeable acid to 

 soup. The Egyptians were used to employ a 

 diluted juice of the berries in ardent and pesti- 

 lential fevers ; but it is merely an agreeable 

 acidulous diluent. The inner bark, with alum, 

 dyes a bright yellow, and in some countries is 

 used for colouring leather, dyeing silk and cot- 

 ton, and staining wood for cabinet and other 

 purposes. Cows, sheep, and goats are said to 

 feed on the leaves : but horses and swine re- 

 fuse them. A very singular circumstance has 

 been stated respecting the barberry shrub: 

 that grain sown near it becomes mildewed, 

 and proves abortive, the ears being in general 

 destitute of grain ; and that this influence is 

 sometimes extended to a distance of 300 or 

 400 yards across a field. This, if correct, is 

 a just cause for banishing it from the hedge- 

 rows of our arable fields, for which otherwise 

 its thorny branches would have made a desir- 

 able fence. 



I will cite a few instances which have been 

 brought forward in proof of the injurious 

 effects of this plant upon standing corn. Mr. 

 Macro, a very respectable farmer at Barrow, 

 in Suffolk, planted a barberry bush in his gar- 

 den, on purpose to ascertain the disputed fact. 

 He set wheat round it three succeeding years, 

 and it was all so completely mildewed, that 

 the best of y the little grain it produced was 

 only about the size of thin rice, and that with- 

 out any flour. He adds, that some which he 

 set on the opposite side of his garden on one 

 of the years before mentioned, produced very 

 good grain, although the straw was a little 

 mildewed. From this observation, Mr. Phillips 

 was induced to try the experiment by sow- 

 ing clumps of canary seed in his shrubbery. 

 Those which were planted immediately under 

 the barberry-bush certainly produced no seed; 

 but other plants of this grass yielded seed, al- 

 though not at many yards' distance. The cele- 

 brated Duhamel and M. Boussonet, who have 

 paid such particular attention to agriculture, 

 assure us that there is no just reason for as- 

 cribing this baneful effect to the barberry- 

 bush; and Mr. G. W. Jqhnson is of the same 

 opinion. (See MILDEW.) On the other hand, 

 we. have it affirmed to be most destructive and 

 injurious to all kinds of crops -of grain and- 

 pulse, as proved by various observations, ex- 

 periments, and testimonies, made in.Branden- 

 burgh, Hanover, Prussia, and Germany. (See 

 Com. Board of Agr., vol. vii. pp. 18 126 ; and 

 the writer there "says, towards the conclusion 

 of his article, "To those still inclined to re- 

 gard the barberry as innocent, notwithstanding 

 all the above proofs to the contrary, I would 



