238 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
authors, who consider it a distinct species. It blooms about a 
fortnight later than the last when they grow in the same locality, 
and is recognisable at some distance by its less glossy leaves. I 
have never seen C. oxyacanthoides coming up amongst the seedlings 
of whitethorn in nursery-grounds; so that, at all events, that form 
does not seem to be produced from the seeds of C. monogyna: 
whether the converse be the case I am unable to say. 
Common White-thorn, or Hawthorn, May. 
French, Aubépine & style. German, Lngriffeleger Weissdorn. 
The Hawthorn is known to every one, even to the London resident, as a hedge- 
tree in the suburban lanes, and as the greatest ornament of the parks in the spring 
season of the year. Were it not for the beautiful flowering-trees which are the glory 
of our country, and which surprise and delight all strangers, the London citizen would 
scarcely know when spring begins, or be able in any measure to enjoy that most 
delicious of all seasons of the year. The sweet-scented flowers in May, and the bright 
red fruit in autumn, are a compensation for the absence of many rural pleasures which 
can only be had in the country. The Hawthorn seldom attains any great size ; its chief 
use is as a hedge-plant ; but Loudon mentions several from 20 to 30 feet in height, and 9 or 
10 feet in circumference, and we know that in the London parks there are even now 
trees of considerable size. Perhaps one of the most striking features of an English land- 
scape is its thick well-grown hawthorn hedges, clipped so close, however, that it is seldom 
that the white flowers are allowed to blossom luxuriantly in a well-kept hedge. Hedges 
of this kind are called quickset hedges, and are often spoiled through inattention and 
want of care. Wherever thorn hedges are planted and intended to thrive, the ground 
ought to be trenched at least two feet in depth, manured, if poor, and the plants inserted 
on a flat surface, so as to receive all the moisture that falls in the shape of rain. The 
margin of the ditch ought always to be two or three feet from the plants, and the earth 
excavated instead of being raised into a ridge over the roots of the plants, where it can be 
of little or no use to them, should be spread over the general surface so as to increase the 
depth of nutritive soil. This mode of making hedges may somewhat increase the first 
expense, but will be found the best in the end, as more speedily producing a permanent 
fence and a substantial one. When grown to the required size, the hedge should be 
cut every year, or at least every alternate one. So kept, hedges of this plant will last 
for very many years without requiring renewal ; but when allowed to grow ragged and 
high, and then cut down in the usual manner, they are more or less injured and become 
thin and poor, and form no sufficient protection. It sometimes happens that the 
Hawthorn suffers severely from the attacks of insects, and the hedges and trees present 
a very unsightly appearance, the leaves being entirely consumed, and withered bits 
mixed with the cocoons of the caterpillar, which is the marauder, hanging from the 
bare branches, when they ought to be in luxuriant foliage. Such has been the case 
this present year 1864 with nearly all the’ May-trees in the London parks: they 
flowered beautifully, but immediately after were attacked by the little larve of a 
moth, and present at this time (July) a miserable spectacle. Whether the buds 
of the next year have been injured remains to be seen. Crataegus Oxyacantha was 
known to the Greeks under the name of Pyracantha, although there is some dispute 
as to whether it was our identical species. Homer tells us that when Ulysses returned 
to his father Laertes, the good old man had sent his servants into the woods to get 
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