6 



MISC. PUBLICATION 1, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



eye. These brinj; iis a<;ain to tlie first sta^^e of the stem rust. 

 Althou^fh tiny aixl nearly invisible, tliese spores are a most impor- 

 tant link in Uu' life of the rust. For it is in tliis stajre that the 

 rust leaves the dry, tleail wheat stem and finds its way, by the help of 

 the wind or any chance breeze, to a fresh new barberry leaf in the 

 sprin<r. There it settles and, sendin<; its hypha or tube into the leaf, 



takes f(»r itself the food 

 tliat is insiile. Thus it 

 *:ro^vs until it forms the 

 cluster cups we talked 

 about before. 



THE COMMON BAR- 

 BERK Y 



The common bar- 

 berry (fig. 5) has been 

 so interestin<r to people 

 that some til injr is 

 known of its history 

 for more than 2,()0l) 

 years. For many cen- 

 turies people liked to 

 have the barberry 

 •rrowinp: in their yards 

 and jiardens and fields. 

 When they moved tliey 

 took seeds or young 

 liu>hes with them to 

 their new homes. 

 Travelers carried the 

 seeds from country to 

 country. Men looked 

 upon the barberry as a 

 friend. 



Nowadays people 

 wlio iMulerstand what 

 S( )it of neighl >< »r the bar- 

 berry is do not wish 

 to see it growing. In- 

 stead of cherishing 

 it. they kill it. In 

 many places they make 

 laws which fori)id the 

 l)lanting of this bush 

 and laws to provide 

 for getting rid of it in 

 places where it is growing. They look upon the barberry as an 

 enemy. 



The history of the barberry in different places helps us to under- 

 stand both the old-time and the present-day feeling about this shrub. 

 The common barberry still lives wild among the mountains in 

 Asia. We know that it was growing in that part of the world more 

 than 2,500 years ago because of what the old Hindu writers wrote 



Flu. 4. — As tlif fc'f.iln ln^'iiis to rlpiii, tlie ni.st pu!4tulc» 

 bocdine lllltil with blatk hiport-s 



