YELLOW AND ORANGE WILD FLOWERS 



of brilliant scarlet berries begin to brighten hilly- 

 pastures and wayside thickets. Gardeners take advan- 

 tage of this extremely ornamental shrub, and use it 

 extensively for making hedges and beautifying home 

 grounds. Its decorative value may be better appre- 

 ciated when it is considered that the attractive ber- 

 ries remain throughout the winter. The fruit is 

 sour and puckery, but not altogether unpleasant to 

 the taste, and when cooked, they make a beautifully 

 coloured syrup or jelly of pleasing flavour. Indeed, 

 the store of preserved viands on the swing shelf in the 

 cellar or topmost shelf in the upstairs closet of any old 

 New England farm house is not replete until the busy 

 housewife makes her old-fashioned Barberry jam. 

 Then all hands look forward to the coming Thanks- 

 giving dinner with the satisfaction of knowing that 

 there surely will be the making of Barberry tarts — 

 tarts that outclass the cranberry sort, too. And if on 

 the day following the feast, a body should happen to 

 feel feverish or indisposed, the same Barberry usually 

 helped to adjust the effects of too much turkey and 

 pumpkin pie, for it is both food and medicine. The 

 juice of the berries has a cooling effect upon fever 

 patients, and it is used as a gentle tonic, and was 

 formerly administered in cases of jaundice. The 

 roots and inner bark are sometimes used to make a 

 yellow dye, and also for tanning purposes. Malic 

 acid is made from the berries. The Barberry is 

 severely condemned by wheat growers because it is 

 believed to harbour a mildew or fungus (Aecidium) 



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