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Garden Correspondence 
13 
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Conducted by W. C. EGAN 
A BARBERRY HEDGE 
I AM building a new home and intend bordering my 
roadway with a hedge. My neighbor has one 
that colors beautifully in the fall. He calls it a 
barberry. I want something similar, but in looking 
up the catalogues I find that there are several bar¬ 
berries. Can you give me the proper name and 
directions for planting ? My roadway is twelve feet 
wide. W. H. S. 
What you describe is undoubtedly Thunberg’s 
Barberry, known botanically as Berberis Thunhergu, 
a native of Japan. The common barberry grows 
much taller and is less suitable for a hedge, as it has 
a tendency to become bare at the base. Buy young 
plants from ten to twenty inches tall, and plant about 
eighteen inches apart in a single row. Make a 
trench at least two feet wide and as deep, filling in 
with good soil, unless the native soil is good. Be 
sure that your drainage is good and especially that 
surface water does not stand over the roots in winter. 
You can even plant on a slight ridge, if necessary, for 
in time the overhanging branches will cover any 
evidence of the ridge. Bear in mind that where this 
barberry does well it will, in time, have a spread of at 
least six feet, consequently it should not be planted 
nearer the roadway than three feet. Sod or sow 
grass seed between them and the roadway for a cover 
until the shrubs monopolize the space. This shrub 
should never be cut back or trimmed as that destroys 
the characteristic charm of its arching branches, so 
beautifully draped with berries in the winter. As 
it will not bloom on the present year’s growth, this 
berried effect is lost if trimmed. 
I know of a case witbin a mile of me where a road¬ 
way of only ten feet wide has just been planted with 
this barberry close to the edge. If the plants do well 
and are not mutilated by very close trimming the 
owner will, in five years, have to ride in in a wheel¬ 
barrow. 
A WAY TO EXTERMINATE ELDERS AND SUCKERS 
I have just received the November issue of maga¬ 
zine and in your department 1 note the question 
of Mrs. J. P. McC. as to means of exterminating 
elders. 
I once had a fine shade tree, of the “cork” elm 
species that sprouted the entire width of my lawn 
(lOO feet), even going under the cellar, which was 
of cement, and coming up on the other side of the 
house. The roots ruined the cement work of the 
cellar and where they sprouted on the lawn would 
grow three times as tall as the grass, when being 
mown every week. 
1 chopped through the large roots near the trunk 
(after cutting the tree down) and packed salt around 
them. Farther away, where roots were smaller I cut 
through them and pulled out as long pieces as I 
could, putting salt wherever there was a broken end. 
It took about two summers to completely kill the 
roots and stop the sprouting, for the tree was twenty 
years old, at least, and deeply rooted. I think the 
same treatment would kill the elders and other shrubs 
and when the roots are pulled out the damage to the 
lawn is less than when grubbed out. Those that 
run under the sod are easily reached in this way. 
The elders do “sucker” badly but, in my experi¬ 
ence, not more so than the commercial sorts known 
as golden and cut-leaf elders and some other choice 
(.?) shrubs. E. R. G. 
Elms are generally surface rooters, and will, like 
the eucalyptus, travel a long distance for water. 
Your elm went down under the cellar, but the roots of 
the eucalyptus, was known, in California, to climb a 
low stone fence, re-enter the soil, and then choke up 
a drain pipe. 
Applying salt to a freshly cut stump is often effec¬ 
tive in killing the roots, holes bored down vertically 
allowing the application of salt to be more effectively 
applied. 
MANURE 
I have a choice of buying fresh manure at one 
dollar a load or old manure at two dollars. As I 
may use considerable and the cost plays an important 
part with me, I would like your advice in the matter. 
S. G. M. 
A'ou do not state the purpose you want it for. For 
covering bulbs or perennial beds, especially those 
containing shallow rooted plants like the hardy 
phlox, the old manure is the best and cheapest in the 
end, because it can remain the following season and 
thus save the cost of raking oft' and carrying the rough 
{Continued on page 19 , Advertising Section.) 
34 
