BREAD OK BAEBERRIES 13 



In the United States, the hardest stnio;<^le against the barberry is 

 jjoino: on in that part of the country where tlie loss of wheat has 

 been f^reatest. Tliis battlefield covers an area more than 1.5(X) 

 miles lon<; and T<>() miles wide. In it are the States of Colorado, 

 Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michi<j:an, Minnesota. Montana, Nebraska, 

 North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. 



The jDeople Avho have been doing the figiiting are workers from 

 the United States Department of Agriculture, the State colleges of 

 agriculture, the State departnu'uts of agi'iculture, faiiners, busi- 

 ness men. nurserymen, newspaperuien. teachers, and many others. 



Millions and millions of barberry bushes have been found and 

 killed, but unknown thousands of bu.shes have still escaped capture. 

 Big bushes in dooiyards and hedgerows and along roadsides ai"e easy 

 tolind. but small bushes miles away in the woods or in unused fields, 

 or lost among taller plants or hidden in some river-bank shelter, are 

 hard, very hard, to find. It is in such far-away places that barberry 

 seeds have been scattered by birds and other animals during a hun- 

 dred years and more. Hunting for the smallest escaped or "wild" 

 bushes seems like hunting foi- needless in haystacks. 



But there is a zest in hunting that boys and girls like. Their 

 eyes are keen, and they spend much time roaming through fields and 

 woods and climbing banks. So it is not hard to guess why boys and 

 girls are being asked to join in the great hunt for barberry bushes. 

 They are asked to iielp protect the food for the army of wheat eaters. 

 Scouts are needed for the barbei'iy battle — boy scouts, girl scouts, 

 boys and girls belonging to the 4-II clubs, and boys and girls belong- 

 ing to no clubs at all. 



In fact, help is needed from anyone, young oi- old, who will do 

 these three things: (1) Learn to know the harmful connnon barberry 

 and the harmless Japanese barberry; (2) .send a sample of any bush 

 you think is a common barberry to your State agricultural college; 

 and (3) tell this story to anybody you find who (loes not understand 

 about the connnon baiberr}' and why we should kill it. Let us repeat 

 these three things so we will not forget: 



1. Learn to know the haimful common baiberry. It has leaves 

 with bristle-tof)thetJ edges, giay bark, blossoms in clustei-s, red bonies 

 in bunches, and spines U'-ually in threes. (Fig. W.) Learn to kiiow 

 the harndess Japanese barberry. It has smooth-edged leaves, brown 

 l)ark, blossoms and berries singly or in twos, and spines usually single. 

 Japanese barberries have been |)lanted in many yards for ornament, 

 and they do no harm to grain because the rust can not live on I hem. 



li. If you find a connnon baibeiry bush giowing in any one of the 

 1.') .States where (he bai'beri v battle is going on. mark (he place wheie 

 you find it. Then cut off a sample ((o |)ro\(' (hat y«iu know a bar- 

 berry bush) and sen<l i( to tJu' agriculdiral college of (ha( S(a(e wi(l> 

 your name and address and a le((er telling where you collected the 

 sample. The news you send will helj) the i)eople in charge of the 

 work to locate the bushes and see that they are destroyed. 



'\. If you know any person who does not (uiderstand why we are 

 fighting (he barberry, tell him wha( vou hav<' learned aboui (he life 

 of the black stem rust, or le( him read (his publica(ion. Kven if you 

 are no( living in or near any of (he l'.\ Stales where (he barberry 

 battle is raging, you can help. For we nuist remembci- (hat the 



