THE BERBERRY. 185 
abundant, and produce a pleasing appearance; but in 
order to reduce the number of bunches, and so increase 
the size of its fruit, the racemes of its flowers should be 
thinned out. It bears a fruit of an oblong, oval form, 
which, when ripe, is of a red, white, purple, or black color, 
according to variety of species. Its berries, while green, 
pickled in vinegar make a good substitute for capers, 
also as a flavoring, and when fermented produce an acid 
wine; when ripe, and prepared as jellies and other pre- 
serves, they are considered delicious and extremely whole- 
some. Its leaves, which are acid in taste, might be used, 
like sorrel, to season meat with; a yellow dye is procured 
from the inner bark of both the stem and roots, and its 
astringent principle is so abundant that it is sometimes 
used in tanning leather, which it dyes a fine yellow. 
Medicinally its bark is purgative and tonic. 
There exists a prejudice against the berberry as a 
hedge-plant, on account of its supposed influence in pro- 
ducing blight in corn-crops when sown in proximity 
thereto, by impoverishing the soil through the agency 
of its numerous suckers. Varieties are raised by suck- 
ers, but when an original species is required seed is used 
in its propagation. 
“ BERBERIS AQUIFOLIUM,” OR THE HOLLY-LEAVED BERBERRY. 
Of this genus there are four species—Berberris repens, 
aquifolium, pinnata, and nervosa—which have green, 
unequally pennate leaves, and dark globose berries. The 
holly-leaved berberry is a shrub of considerable beauty, 
and is on this account cultivated in gardens and by flor- 
ists, who find a large sale for it as a flowering-shrub. 
The species Aguifolium inhabits the coast-range moun- 
tains, and delights in the high altitudes common to the 
middle elevations of the Big Horn and Wolf ranges, the 
head-waters of Arkansas, and in the Capatoon ranges. 
It is generally found abundantly upon exposures to the 
south and east, in the rich vegetable mould which cov- 
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