840 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 
a year in the ground before they do so, the preferable mode is to plant them 
in a nursery for the first year ; or, if this is not done, they ought to be planted 
thick, so as to make allowance for some not pushing till the second year, and 
some not pushing at all. 
When the hawthorn is to be raised from seed, the haws should not be 
gathered till they are dead ripe; which will be in October or November. As 
many haws contain more than one seed, they ought not to be put in the 
ground entire, but, if they are to be sown immediately, they must be mace- 
rated in water till the pulp is separated from the nuts; and the latter should 
then be mixed with dry sand, to keep them separate, and to enable the sower 
to scatter them equally over the surface. But, as the seeds do not come 
up till the second year, a saving of ground is made by keeping them the first 
year in a heap mixed with a sufficient quantity of soil, to prevent them from 
heating, and to facilitate the decomposition of the pulp. These heaps are 
kept in the open air, and exposed to the full influence of the weather; care 
being taken to turn them over frequently, at least once a month, so as to 
equalise this influence. When the seeds are not to be prepared in a heap, 
they should be sown in November or December, as soon as separated from 
the pulp; but, when they are to be separated by decomposition, in what is 
technically called a rot-heap, they need not be sown till the February, or even 
the March, of the second year ; by which means fifteen or sixteen months’ use 
of the soil is saved. They may be sown thinly in beds, the seeds being scat- 
tered so as to lie about 1 in. apart every way, and covered about a quarter of 
an inch. The nursery culture required is mere routine. At the end of the 
first year’s growth, the strongest of the plants may be thinned out from the 
beds, and planted in nursery lines; and in the autumn of the second year, the 
remaining plants may be taken up for the same purpose. Hawthorns ought 
always to be two years transplanted before they are employed for hedges; 
younger and untransplanted plants, though cheaper to purchase, are always 
the most expensive to the planter, as they require temporary protection for a 
longer period. 
As stocks, hawthorn plants may be treated like stocks for fruit trees; and 
the different species and varieties may be budded and grafted on them in a 
similar manner. Not only the different species of Cratz‘gus, but those of 
Meéspilus, Sérbus, Pyrus, and even Malus, Cydonia, Amelinchier, and others, 
may be grafted on the common hawthorn; and in this way field hedges 
might be rendered ornamental, and even productive of useful fruits. 
Statistics. Recorded old Hawthorn Trees. One is mentioned by Marsham, which, in 1755, stood 
by Hethel church, near Norwich, and measured in girt, at 4ft. from the ground, 9ft. 12 in. ; 
one arm of it extending above 7 yards. (Bath Soc. Pap., i. p. 66.) Dr. Walker notices the following 
large hawthorn trees in Scotland :—On the island in Loch Leven, in Fifeshire, in 1796, a tree 
girted 6 ft. 4in., at 4ft. from the ground; one at Castle Huntly, in Forfarshire, 6 ft. 10 in., at 3 ft. 
from the ground; one at Kinkarochie, in the parish of Scone, in Perthshire, 9 ft. in circumference 
at 4 ft. from the ground, the diameter of the head 42 ft. ; at Blair, in Athol, a double-flowered haw- 
thorn, standing in the ‘* Wilderness,” in 1770, 20 years planted, was 15ft. high, with a trunk 2 ft. 4in. 
circumference at 4 ft. from the ground. In Ireland, according to Hayes, the growth of the haw- 
thorn far exceeds what takes place in England or Scotland. ‘‘ There are, at Robert Stubber’s, Esq., 
at Mayne, several white thorns of 7ft. and 8ft. in circumference, with heads finely formed, and 
great in proportion; so that, when in flower, there can be nothing more beautiful. I mea- 
sured one 5ft.4in. round the stem at 9ft. high; the branches extending 13 yards: another, 
7 ft. Gin, round the stem, in the smallest part; the head entire, and covering a circle of 36 ft. in 
diameter: and a third, the branches of which extended round a very fair stem, 24ft. on every side. 
This last is one of the most beautiful thorns I ever saw ; but the largest I recollect to have ever seen 
is at Lord Gormanstown’s, in the county of Meath. It was above 10ft. in circumference, several 
years since: it stood in the high road, and had received some injury, and was hooped round with 
bands of iron when I last saw it; so that, perhaps, it may have since decayed.” (Pract. Treat. on 
Plants, p. 52.) There is a remarkable old thorn in Dalham Park, Suffolk, mentioned in Jesse’s 
Gleanings, vol. iii. p. 272., but the dimensions are not given. 
Crataegus Oxyactntha, and its Varieties, in the Environs of London. At Syon, and at various 
other places, the double-blossomed and the scarlet hawthorns are from 25 ft. to 30 ft. high. At Ham 
House there is a handsome tree of the variety with golden leaves, 15 ft. high. In the Hammer- 
smith Nursery, C.O. melanocérpa is 20 ft. high, diameter of the head 25 ft. and of the trunk 1 ft. 
C. Oxyacintha, and its Varieties, South of London. In Devonshire, at Endsleigh Cottage, 20 
years planted, and 22 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 7in., and of the head 14ft.; and C. O. 
rosea, 20 years planted, and 18 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 6in., and of the head 12ft. In 
Dorsetshire, at Melbury Park, the species, 100 years old, is 48 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2ft. 
2in,, and of the head 47 ft., in strong loam on clay; C. O.7dsea, 50 years planted, and 32 ft. high, the 
diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 2in., and of the head 30 ft., in loam on gravel; C. O. pre‘cox, the Glas- 
tonbury thorn, 100 years planted, and 21 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1ft., and of the head 
