CHAPTER XLVIII. 
THE BERBERRY. 
Its Attainable Growth under Culture.—The Common Berberry.—Its 
Ornamental Value and Manner of Training.—Its Thrift and General 
Appearance.—Where Indigenous.—Soil Suitable to its Thrift.—Its 
Floral and Fruit Productiveness.—Uses of its Fruit and Leaves.— 
Medicinal and other Properties of its Bark.— A Prejudice against it. 
—Varieties and Original Species, How Raised.—Berberis aquifolium. 
—Its Beauty.—Its Range of Growth and High Altitude of Thrift.— 
Quality and Color of its Fruit.—Its Botanical Description.—Medic- 
inal Properties of its Root.—Its Medicinal Extracts, and Complaints 
for which Prescribed.—Medicinal Properties of its Berries. 
COMMON BERBERRY. 
THE many species of berberries in a wild state are 
mere shrubs, but when cultivated attain considerable 
elevation, sometimes arriving at the height of thirty 
feet. The common berberry when raised for ordinary 
purposes, such as hedging, requires but little culture, but 
when grown for ornament the lower branches to the 
height of eight feet of its trunk should be trimmed ; so, 
also, the many suckers which it throws out should be re- 
moved as they appear. Treated in this way, and nour- 
ished by a deep, well-manured soil, it forms a singularly 
beautiful tree, and will endure toa greatage. Its growth 
is rapid, of an upright stem, with branched, drooping 
foliage. It is indigenous to both the Eastern and West- 
ern hemispheres; and in the United States has natural- 
ized itself in waste places and about cultivated grounds, 
in which situations it is found of ordinary thrift, more 
especially on calcareous soils. Its blossoms, which ap. 
pear in April, May, and June, are of a yellow color, 
