EVERGREEN BERBERRIES CULTIVATED IN GREAT BRITAIN. 11 



them remain in the above situation until the spring after. I then 

 plant them out in the nursery in rows, about 15 inches from row 

 to row, and about 6 inches from plant to plant. In two years 

 they make fine strong bushes for permanent situations. 



" Finding the plants to be free growers, nearly evergreen, and 

 very strong, and raising many thousands per year, I began, by the 

 desire of my employer, to plant them out for hedges, and they 

 succeed particularly well either planted on banks or on the bare 

 surface. The latter I can highly recommend for dividing allot- 

 ments in cottage gardens, this berberry being free from mildew ; 

 and it can be kept clipped with shears or shorn with a reap-hook 

 to any width required. 



" When planted on a bank, it makes a beautiful hedge by 

 cutting out with a knife the very luxuriant shoots about twice a 

 year to within an inch or two from where they grow, allowing 

 the side and weak growth to form the hedge. I have a hedge at 

 Killerton so treated, which has been planted upwards of twelve 

 years, and at this time is not more than 4 feet high and about the 

 same width ; and with the same treatment it can be kept to the 

 same size. 



" I should recommend in planting hedges to keep the plants a 

 foot apart, and, if the hedges are to be kept shorn, in a single 

 row ; but if to be kept in the more natural growth, plant two 

 rows, not more than one foot apart, and the plants the same, but 

 put in alternately. 



" When strong, this Berberry is proof against any cattle. Last 

 spring I planted a stout bush in the deer park without protection. 

 They have battled it with their horns, but they have not killed it. 

 It can be planted nearer a fence where cattle have access than any 

 shrub I know." 



It is indeed a most valuable plant, and hardy enough to defy 

 the rigour of any frosts south of the Humber. 



Many varieties are to be found in gardens, but they are not 

 different in important characters. • 



17. The CHITRA Berberry. 



Berberis aristata. Be Cand. Sy sterna, ii. 8. Hooker's Exot. 

 JBot. t. 98? — alias B. Chitria Buchanan. Ker, in Bota- 

 nical Register, t. 729 — alias B. floribunda, Don's Miller's 

 Diet., i. 115 — alias B. affinis, Bon, I. c. 



Long known as a Nepal plant, and more particularly described 

 by Dr. Royle as inhabiting the Himalayas at from 5000 to 8000 

 feet of elevation, from Jurreepanee to Mussooree and on the 

 Choor Mountain ; its hill name is Chitra. It is also found on 



