CHAP. XLIl. ROSA'CEiE. CRAT^e'gUS. 837 



the common hawthorn. It is also raised as a stock on which to graft other 

 si)ecies of CVataj'gus ; and the scarlet-flowered and double-blossomed varieties 

 are eminently popular as ornamental flowering low trees. 



Properties and Uses. The wood of the hawthorn is very hard, and difficult 

 to work : its colour is white, but with a yellowish tinge ; its grain is fine, and 

 it takes a beautiful polish ; but it is not much used in the arts, because it is 

 seldom found of sufiicient size, and is, besides, apt to warp. It weighs, when 

 green, 68 lb. 12 oz. per cubic foot ; and, when dry, 57 lb. 3 oz. It contracts, 

 by drying, one eighth of its bulk. It is employed for the handles of hammers, 

 the teeth of mill-wheels, for flails and mallets, and, when heated at the fire, 

 for canes and walking-sticks. The branches are used, in the country, for 

 heating ovens ; a purpose for which they are very proper, as they give out 

 much heat, and possess the property of burning as readily when green, as in 

 their dry state. They are not less useful in the formation of dead hedges, for 

 the protection of seeds, or of newly planted live hedges, or of single trees; 

 and they will last a considerable time without decaying; especially when they 

 have been cut in autumn. The leaves are eaten by cattle, which, neverthe- 

 less, pay some regard to the spines by which they are defended. The fruit is 

 astringent, and has been recommended in cases of dysentery ; and sometimes 

 employed with success in affections of the kidneys and bladder. In many of 

 the departments of France, a fermented liquor is made from it, and mixed 

 with cider and perry to augment its strength. M. Bosc says that, on this 

 account alone, the hawthorn ought to be more cultivated in the north of 

 France, since the drink formed from it might supply the place of beer, for 

 which so much grain is required. The drink is, however, very intoxicating. 

 (Diet, des Eau.v et des Forets.) In England, the leaves, when young, were used 

 formerly in salads, and have been frequently employed, with those of the sloe, 

 to adulterate tea. The hawthorn, like most other indigenous trees, was 

 criticised by (iilpin, with reference to its claims to picturesque beauty. To 

 this kind of beauty he allows it to have very slight pretensions ; and his rea- 

 sons in this, as in every other similar case, are elegantly expressed, and full of 

 instruction to the landscape-gardener. " Its shape," he says, " is bad : it 

 does not taper and point like the holly, but is rather a matted, round, heavy 

 bush. Its fragrance, indeed, is great ; but its bloom, which is the source of 

 that fragrance, is spread over it in too much profusion : it becomes a mere 

 white sheet, a bright spot, which is seldom found in harmony with the 

 objects around it. In autumn, the hawthorn makes its best appearance. The 

 glowing berries produce a ricii tint, which often adds great beauty to the cor- 

 ner of "a vvood, or the side of some crowded clump." On this passage. Sir 

 Thomas Dick Lauder observes, " We think Mr. Gilpin is peculiarly hard on 

 the hawthorn. Even in a picturesque point of view, which is the point of 

 view in which he always looks at nature, the hawthorn is not only an in- 

 teresting object by itself, but produces a most interesting combination, or con- 

 trast, as things may be, when grouped with other trees. We have seen it 

 hanging over rocks, with deep shadows under its foliage ; or shooting from 

 their sides in the most fantastic forms, as if to gaze at its image in the deep 

 pool below. We have seen it contrasting its tender green, and its delicate 

 leaves, with the brighter and deeper masses of the holly and the alder. We 

 have seen it growing under the shelter, though not under the shade, of some 

 stately oak ; embodying the idea of beauty protecteti by strength. Our eyes 

 have often caught the motion of the busy mill-wheel, over which its blossoms 

 were clustering. We have seen it growing grandly on the green of the village 

 school, the great object of general attraction to the young urchins, who played 

 in idle groups about its roots ; and, perhaps, the only thing remaining to be 

 recognis^ed when the schoolboy returns as the man. We have seen its aged 

 boughs overshadowing one half of some peaceful woodland cottage ; its 

 foliage half concealing the winilow, whence the sounds of happy content 

 and cheerful mirth came forth. We know that lively season,— 



3k 4- 



