THE BARBERRY BUSH IS AN OUTLAW 
homes. It came to be scattered from coast to coast. It 
got out of gardens and took to the woods and wild lands. 
It has become so firmly established as to be abundant in 
many places. 
When scientists showed the government the cycle of 
life of the black stem rust and the fact of its need of the * 
barberry bush, it was decided to try to do away with these 
bushes. If the country could get rid of them, it would be 
rid of black stem rust. 
The barberry bush was declared an outlaw. All men 
were urged to go forth and kill it. Intense campaigns for 
getting rid of it were carried on in many communities. 
Some progress has been made. But there are wild lands 
on which it is jungle thick. It is no small task to kill all 
these plants, root and branch. The method most often 
used is to pour salt at the base of a clump of bushes. Salt 
is poison to most plants. When the showers come and the 
salt melts and trickles down among the roots, they die. 
They have received the same treatment that the druggist 
gives the tree in front of his store when he empties the 
salt water out of an ice cream freezer and kills the tree 
without intending to do so. But there are so many 
clumps of barberry bushes that it may be a long time 
before the last of them are thus put to death. 
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