BARBERRIES. 599 



istics most happily combined ; for, thanks to the plant's economy 

 in making the rosette branches so short, an abundance of ma- 

 terial is available for the construction of those elongated ones 

 which are to perform the special work of mechanical support. 



In the course of its first year one of these elaborately organ- 

 ized shoots may attain a length of two feet or even more. Dur- 

 ing this rapid growth only a little wood is formed, but in the 

 young bark there are developed about a dozen strands of tough, 

 elastic fiber, which show as prominent ridges at the surface. 

 These strands continue for a year or so to impart such strength 

 and elasticity to the branch that when bent downward, even to a 

 radius of two or three inches, it will spring back to its original 

 curve. After the second or third year the bark and its fibers 

 become brittle and weak through wear, but in the meantime the 

 wood within, at first so meager, has been increasing, ring upon 

 ring, around the central pith, so that, before the bark has ceased 

 to be of mechanical service, there has already been formed to 

 take its place a tissue possessing fully as much elasticity as 

 the other, and in addition remarkable toughness and durability. 

 These qualities are even more apparent as the wood grows older ; 

 so much so, indeed, that it is highly valued in turnery and the 

 manufacture of archers' bows. Thus we see that when a storm 

 comes, the barberry can meet the emergency with branches which 

 yield gracefully so long as they are young, but with age become 

 most effectively resistant. 



Still, a moment's consideration of the distribution of strain 

 will show that for all this flexibility and stoutness throughout 

 the length of the branches a serious dismemberment of the plant 

 must ensue if the place of juncture between each long branch 

 and its trunk be not strongly re-enforced. Now, the long branches 

 of the barberry arise each as a continuation of the axis of a rosette 

 branch. While these short branches have only a cluster of leaves 

 to support, they are but weak, brittle affairs, composed chiefly of 

 soft pith with only a sparse supply of woody fibers ; but when 

 the short axis comes to serve as the basal part of a long shoot, 

 not only does the wood increase remarkably, but even the pith 

 becomes hard and firm. Moreover, we find throughout the whole 

 plant that, whenever a branch is called upon to sustain a con- 

 siderable load, its base is proportionately thickened and strength- 

 ened, and the same is true to a marked degree of the main trunk 

 at its juncture with the root. 



Although with us barberry bushes are for the most part 

 denizens of the open, in Europe they are reported as often grow- 

 ing at the margin of woods. When in this situation, the branches 

 become much more elongated, and, by using the recurved spines 

 as grappling hooks, they climb over the shrubbery encompassing 



