THE HAWTHORN. 99 



and shrubberies varieties are frequent in which the flower 

 is of a permanent and decided pink or crimson. The per- 

 fume of the blossom is generally exceedingly fragrant ; but 

 occasionally this fragrance is almost overpowered by a 

 strong fishy smell, which is most perceptible when the 

 branch is held close to the nose, or carried into a close 

 room. The haw, too, varies greatly in size, shape, and 

 colour, being sometimes oblong, sometimes nearly globular, 

 sometimes downy, at other times smooth and polished. 

 Varieties have been observed in which it exchanges its 

 usual crimson hue for black, orange, golden yellow or 

 white. In the West of. England, and probably most other 

 parts of the country, each haw contains a single nut : but 

 in the neighbourhood of Barnet and Hadley, in Hertford- 

 shire, I have observed that they more frequently contain 

 two. 



The pink and double varieties of Hawthorn are multi- 

 plied by grafting and budding, but the common sort is 

 generally raised from seed. The haws are gathered in 

 winter and laid in a heap, mixed with a sufficient quantity 

 of soil to cover them and separate them from each other, 

 and exposed to the influence of the weather, until the 

 spring of the second, or even the third, ensuing year. 

 Unless this plan is adopted, the young plants do not appear 

 till the year after they are sown, and consequently occasion 

 the loss of the ground for that time. Various experiments 

 have been tried with the seed, in the hope of finding some 

 method of securing their growth in the year following that 

 of their being gathered, but none have succeeded. The 

 extreme hardness and durability of the shell is the pro- 

 bable cause of this sluggishness of growth. Could any 

 plan be devised for breaking the shell without injuring 

 the kernel, it is not unlikely that the desired object would 

 be effected. 



I have already spoken of the claims of the Hawthorn 

 to picturesque beauty. Whether they are allowed or not 

 there can be no doubt that not only the several varieties 

 F 2 



