CHAPTER III 



THE BARBERRY 

 By GEORGE BUNYARD 



The only useful Barberry for garden purposes is the red-fruited. The fruit 

 has an intensely acid flavour, but mixed with apples or other fruits in a tart 

 is most delicious. For decorative use in the autumn the pretty scarlet fruits 

 are most useful. The Barberry [Berberis vulgaris) will grow in any soil, and 

 forms a strong bush about 8 feet high. There is a white-fruited variety and a 

 seedless form, but these are not of garden interest. In nurseries the Barberry is 

 propagated by seed, the best seedlings only being selected for sale. The purple- 

 leaved Barberry is valuable only for its striking foliage. 



BLACKBERRIES AND ALLIED FRUITS 



These useful fruits give variety to the year's supply, and are valuable in 

 the making of jam, jelly, and tarts. They require but little care in cultivation, 

 and grow freely in any ordinary soil. 



The best results are obtained from plants in rows 6 feet apart, the shoots 

 being trained right and left, espalier style. The fruiting shoots can then be 

 removed every season, and fresh sturdy growths laid in as they are produced 

 for the following year's crop ; some peg them down, and cut off the ends after 

 August to strengthen the lower buds, which next year produce strong-flowering 

 branches. 



All the pruning necessary is to cut away the old fruiting wood, yearly, as 

 with raspberries. When established all grow strongly, and the plants can be 

 placed from 6 feet to lo feet apart. The American sorts, as a rule, flower freely, 

 but only fruit satisfactorily in a few positions, or in very favourable seasons. 



Parsley-Leaved Blackberry.— This is the best of the blackberries for general 

 culture. The fruit is very large, freely produced, and the foliage is handsome, the stems 

 being of a rich colour also. It is Rubus laciniatus j in point of flavour it is not equal 

 to the Wild Blackberry, which can be obtained from any British hedgerow, and well 

 repays the care of good cultivation. 



Cumberland Blackcap, or the Whitewash Bramble {Rubus leiicodermis). — This 

 is a handsome plant, the stems being white. The fruit is small and black, and ripens 

 before the wild blackberries. 



Early King is a large-fruited American variety which ripens early. 



The Lawton is a large American variety. 



Lucretia is suitable for culture in damp, boggy land. The black fruits are large 

 and acid and resemble the Dewberry. 



