160 THE NURSERY. [FEB. 



advocate for covering seeds of any kind too deep, never having had 

 good success from such. If the above sorts are covered but lightly, 

 they will easily grow through it, and when up you can refresh them 

 by sifting fresh earth over them, if in beds, and if in drills, by draw- 

 ing it to their stems. 



SOWING HAWS FOR THE RAISING OF THORN-QUICK. 



Having collected a sufficiency of fruit of the various kinds of haw- 

 thorn which you desire to propagate, the autumn twelve months 

 previous to the time of sowing, which is, as early in spring as it is 

 possible to get the ground in a good state of culture to receive them, 

 proceed to sowing as hereafter directed. 



When you collect these seeds in autumn, mix them with equal 

 quantities of light sandy earth, and lay them in that state on the 

 surface of a dry spot of ground in your best inclosed garden, where 

 they cannot be disturbed by hogs, &c. ; form this mixture into a nar- 

 row, sloping ridge, tapering to, the top, and covering it with light, 

 loose earth two inches thick all over; the April following, turn this 

 ridge, mixing the whole together, and form it again in the same way, 

 covering in like manner as before with two inches deep of light, loose 

 earth ; repeat this again in the months of July and August, by which 

 the seeds in every part will be equally prepared for vegetation. A 

 trench must be cut round this ridge to prevent any water from 

 lodging about the seeds, for this would rot many, and injure others, 

 especially in the second winter, when the stones would be losing 

 their cementing quality, and begin to open ; for until this is effected, 

 the kernels cannot vegetate. Hence the necessity and great advan- 

 tage of not burying the stones in the earth, as injudiciously practised 

 by many; for if so treated, they would not have the advantage des- 

 tined by nature for their due preparation, and would labor under 

 many other disadvantages, as hereafter noticed. 



It is well known, that many kinds of seeds when buried in the 

 earth below the power of vegetation, remain in an inactive state for 

 several years, even those whose nature it is to vegetate the first season 

 when properly exposed ; how much more so must it be with seeds of 

 such tardy vegetation as haws, and many other sorts ; but by being 

 thus exposed to the influence of the sun and air, and frequently 

 turned as before directed, all become equally and sufficiently pre- 

 pared, and will not fail when sowed in due season and suitable soil 

 to reward the judicious cultivator with an abundant crop. 



When those seeds are buried deep, and not mixed with a due 

 quantity of earth as before observed, they are subject to ferment too 

 powerfully, and also to be injured by too much wet, and will never 

 be found, more especially when large quantities of them are together, 

 to vegetate equally those near the surface and sides of the pit doing 

 tolerably well some of the others not growing until a full year after 

 being sowed, and the greater number not at all. 



There is not the least danger to be apprehended from frost in- 

 juring the seeds whilst so much exposed to it in those ridges ; how- 

 ever, it will not be amiss to strew a light covering of long litter over 





