ERADICATING THE COMMON BARBERRY O 
ground and may lie from a few inches to a foot or more below it. 
They may become an inch or two in diameter near the bush and 
may be 10 to 15 feet long. These large lateral roots branch to some 
extent and produce numerous fibrous roots. They give the bush its 
chief mechanical support, but the intake of substances from the soil 
probably is confined largely to the fibrous roots near the crown. 
When barberries are dug most of the sprouts which may develop 
later arise from these long lateral roots. There is seldom a deep 
taproot. 
As the bush grows, rhizomes are produced from the crown below 
the surface of the ground. They usually grow laterally a foot or 
two and only a few inches below the surface, then turn upward and 
produce aerial shoots (pi. 4, B, and pi. 5). They may develop 
from lateral roots, however, and also may grow downward 2 or 3 
feet before turning upward. These rhizomes usually are devoid of 
roots until the aerial shoots develop, when a mass of fibrous roots 
forms immediately below the point of ^mergence. When this has 
occurred the rhizome may be severed between its origin and this new 
root development without injuring the new shoot. The rhizomes 
also may branch either before or subsequently to the emergence of 
the shoot. 
By the methods just described the parent bush increases its size, 
forming a thick clump of shoots. Such clumps eventually- may be- 
come a rod or more in diameter. Individual shoots may live 20 or 
even 30 years, but they eventually die and are replaced by new 
shoots. This habit makes it difficult or impossible to determine accu- 
rately the age of an old barberry bush. 
MECHANICAL METHODS OF ERADICATION 
The chief means of eradicating barberry bushes has been by 
digging. Even with the development of chemical methods which 
are cheaper, easier, and more effective, there are many bushes that 
must of necessity be dug because of the presence of other valuable 
plants or because of consideration of the action of a chemical on the 
soil. The grub hoe has proved itself the most valuable tool for this 
work. An axlike blade on one side is of use in cutting down the bush 
before digging is started where such a course is necessary. The 
broad, heav}^ hoe on the other side makes digging f airly easy. 
In case the bush is small, one man usually can push it to one side 
while he loosens the crown with the grub hoe and raises the entire 
bush from the ground. With larger bushes, or those with spreading 
tops, it frequently is advantageous to have two men work together. 
One passes a rope around the bush 2 or 3 feet above the ground and 
pu-.Is the shoots out of the way of the other, who, with a grub 
hoe, loosens the dirt around the crown of the bush and cuts the larger 
supporting roots. After working part way or entirely around the 
bush in this fashion it usually is easy to insert the blade of the grub 
hoe under the bush and pry the entire crown out of the ground 
while the other man pulls on the rope. 
These operations must always be followed by the removal of root 
fragments from the hole and by tracing and removing all the sup- 
porting roots which were cut or broken off. If this is not done care- 
