42 On the Cultivation of Hedges in the U. States. 



may be formed of it in many places, yet it is so evidently infe- 

 rior to some other varieties of native hawthorn, that it is unwor- 

 thy of extensive culture here. Our summers are too hot and 

 dry for a plant, whose most genial home is in the moist and 

 showery climate of England. In the spring months nothing can 

 exceed the freshness of the soft green of the English hawthorn. 

 But the moment the hot July sun bursts out, the growth is check- 

 ed, the leaves begin to turn brown, and, before the middle of 

 August, two thirds of the hedge is bare and defoliated. This 

 want of vigor also gives room for the successful operation of a 

 host of aphides, and other insects, which prey upon it, and often 

 destroy many of the plants. 



There are about twenty species of hawthorn growing wild in 

 North America, and among them may be found some of the finest 

 hedge plants in the world, suited to the peculiarities of every cli- 

 mate and soil, from Maine to Florida. With a more luxuriant 

 and rapid growth than the English thorn, they combine greater 

 strength and closeness of branches, stronger thorns, and, when 

 properly trimmed, present a more impenetrable barrier to man or 

 beast. During the hottest period of summer they retain their 

 foliage in all its vivid brightness, and add to the beauty of the 

 garden or fields, late in the season, by the beautiful crimson of 

 their autumnal foliage. 



We have in different stages of growth, at this establishment, 

 six different kinds of hedges, and have found none to surpass in 

 excellence the Js^ewcastU thorn, (Cratae'gus Crus-galli.) It is 

 largely cultivated in the south of New Jersey, and some parts of 

 Pennsylvania, and makes a close, durable, and impenetrable 

 hedge, suitable for the most exposed situations. Our common 

 thorn (C. punctata) resembles it in many respects, and, as we 

 have tested, is capable of making a hedge far superior to the 

 English hawthorn, for this climate, and may be grown in at least 

 two thirds the time. Another species, known as the Washing- 

 ton thorn, (Cratae^gus populifolia,) much planted near Philadel- 

 phia, though not, perhaps, quite equal to the Newcastle, yet 

 makes a very handsome and valuable hedge. We have about 

 eight hundred feet planted with this thorn, and consider it equal, 

 in beauty of foliage and appearance, to any other thorn, though 

 not naturally so thick in its growth as the Newcastle. 



Almost every district of country abounds in some native spe- 

 cies of thorn; and we cannot too strongly recommend farmers 

 and landed proprietors, in districts remote from nurseries, to 

 gather the berries in autumn,* and rear from them live fences of 



* The haws, or berries, should be scalded in hot water, to loosen the 

 pulp, and then planted before winter. In planting the hedge, the thorns 

 should be two years old, and planted in double rows about ten inches 

 apart, not opposite, but alternate or quincunx. 



