382 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



some regard to the spines by which they are defended. The fruit is astringent. 

 By far the most important use of the hawthorn is as a hedge plant. For 

 this purpose, it is planted in single or in double lines, most commonly along 

 the margin of a ditch ; though, however convenient this may be with respect 

 to fencing the plants when young, and draining the soil, it is a great draw- 

 back to their progress afterwards, by preventing their roots from extending 

 themselves, except on one side ; and, by the drainage of the ditch, it also 

 deprives them of their natural share of moisture. Wherever thorn hedges 

 are planted, and intended to thrive, the ground ought to be trenched at 

 least 2 ft. in depth, manured if poor, and the plants inserted on a flat sur- 

 face, so as to receive and retain the whole of the moisture that falls from the 

 heavens. 



The hawthorn will do no good unless planted in a soil naturally dry and 

 fertile, or that has been rendered so by art. The plant is never found natu- 

 rally on a wet soil ; and, if planted on such a soil, it soon becomes stunted, 

 and covered with lichens and moss. The situation should be airy ; but it 

 will grow either in exposed places, or in such as are sheltered, and even some- 

 what shaded, by other trees. In cases of this kind, however, it neither forms 

 a handsome tree, nor a close thick hedge. 



The species is almost always propagated by seeds, but sometimes by cut- 

 tings of the roots ; which, when about half an inch in thickness, and 1 ft. or 

 18 in. in length, and planted with the root end undermost, speedily make 

 large plants. Where old thorn plants are taken up, the roots may always be 

 used for forming new hedges ; but it must be acknowledged that, as they do 

 not all send up shoots equally, some remaining 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, technically called a rot-heap, mixed with a sufficient quantity 

 cf 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 Decem- 

 ber, as soon as separated from the pulp j but, when they are to be separated 

 by decomposition in a 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 I in. apart every way, and covered about a quarter of 

 an inch. The nursery culture required is mere routine. 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, either for dwarfs or standard high, in a similar manner. Not only 

 the different species of CVatae^gus, but those of .Mespilus, tforbus, Pyrus, and 

 even -Malus, Cydonia, Ameldnckicr, Eriobotrya, 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. 



