=BARBERRY.=--The Barberry (_Berberis vulgaris_) was formerly called the Pipperidge-bush, and was regarded with superstitious dislike by farmers, who believed that it injured Wheat crops, even if growing a hundred yards off, by imparting to the Corn the fungus which causes rust.----In Italy, the Barberry is looked upon as the Holy Thorn, or the plant which furnished the crown of Thorns used at our Lord’s crucifixion: it seems to be so regarded because its Thorns grow together in sets of three at each joint of the branch.----The Barberry is under the dominion of Venus. =BARLEY.=--Barley is a symbol of riches and abundance. The God Indra is called “He who ripens Barley,” and in many of their religious ceremonies the Indians introduce this cereal, viz., at the birth of an infant, at weddings, at funerals, and at certain of their sacrificial rites.----Barley is claimed by astrologers as a notable plant of Saturn. =BAROMETZ.=--The Barometz, or Scythian Lamb (_Polypodium Barometz_), is a name given to a Fern growing in Tartary, the root of which, says Prof. Martyn, from the variety of its form, is easily made by art to take the form of a lamb (called by the Tartars _Borametz_), “or rather that of a rufous dog, which the common names in China and Cochin-China imply, namely, _Cau-tich_ and _Kew-tsie_.” The description given of this strange Fern represents the root as rising above the ground in an oblong form, covered all over with hairs: towards one end it frequently becomes narrower and then thicker, so as to give somewhat of the shape of a head and neck, and it has sometimes two pendulous hairy excrescences resembling ears; at the other end a short shoot extends out into a tail. Four fronds are chosen in a suitable position, and are cut off to a proper length, to represent the legs: and thus a vegetable lamb is produced. Loureiro affirms that the root, when fresh cut, yields a juice closely resembling the blood of animals.----Kircher has given a figure of the Tartarian Lamb, in which the lamb is represented as the fruit of some plant on the top of a stalk.----Parkinson, in the frontispiece to his _Paradisus Terrestris_, has depicted this Lamb-plant as growing in the Garden of Eden, where it appears to be browsing on the surrounding herbage.----Scaliger has given a detailed account of the Barometz, which he calls “a wondrous plant indeed among the Tartars.” After remarking that Zavolha is the most considerable of the Tartar hordes, he proceeds:--“In that province they sow a seed not unlike the seed of a Melon, except that it is not so long. There comes from it a plant which they call Borametz, that is to say, a lamb; and, indeed, the fruit of that plant has exactly the shape of a lamb. We see distinctly all the exterior parts--the body, the feet, the hoofs, the head, and the ears; there wants, indeed, nothing but the horns, instead of which it has a sort of wool that imitates them not amiss.