420 CRA1MEGUS 



loamy soil, and have no objection to lime. They are best raised from 

 seeds, and trees so derived are better-growing and longer-lived than 

 grafted ones. This applies especially to grafted trees of which stock and 

 scion are of different species. It has long been the practice to graft the 

 American thorns on C. monogyna, but although it is a x longer business 

 raising them from seed, it pays in the end. Named and selected forms 

 have, perforce, to be increased by grafting; in that case stocks of the 

 parent species should be selected. The seed of Cratsegus does not, 

 as a rule, germinate until it has lain a year in the ground. For this 

 reason it is the common practice where large quantities of young plants 

 are needed, as in the case of the common hawthorn, to mix. the fruits as 

 soon as gathered with earth or sand, and let them lie in a heap until 

 they are sown the second spring following their ripening. They have to 

 be turned occasionally, especially at first. Of rarer sorts the seed may 

 be sown as soon as received, and the boxes or pans placed on the north 

 side of a hedge to save trouble in watering. They should be watched 

 the second spring, when germination usually takes place, and, if important 

 enough, given the protection of an unheated frame. 



The thorns do not transplant well if allowed to remain more than 

 two or three years in a place. They like a good, well-drained soil, and 

 the only pruning they need is the removal of overcrowding branches, 

 and an encouragement of the leading shoot when young by removing 

 rivals. 



The thorns have two, frequently three, seasons of beauty in flower, 

 in fruit, and in the dying foliage. Few genera, indeed, supply so many 

 charming lawn trees. Besides the garden forms of Oxyacantha and 

 monogyna, the following twelve species may be selected as specially 

 worthy : Carrierei, coccinea, cordata, Crus-galli, Korolkowi, macra- 

 cantha, mollis, orientalis, prunifolia, punctata, tanacetifolia, and 

 tomentosa. 



C. ALTAICA, Ledebour. ALTAI MOUNTAIN THORN. 



A small tree ' with .dark purplish brown, smooth twigs. Leaves broadly 

 ovate to triangular ; very broadly wedge-shaped, straight, or even slightly 

 heart-shaped at the base ; five- to eleven-lobed, the lowest pair of lobes 

 often reaching almost to the midrib ; finely toothed, 2 to 4 ins. long, nearly 

 as wide ; quite smooth on both surfaces except for occasional small tufts 

 of down in the vein-axils beneath ; stalk -| to \\ ins. long ; stipules half-heart- 

 shaped to sickle-shaped, sharply toothed. Flowers white, f in. across, 

 produced during May in corymbs about 3 ins. across ; calyx and flower-stalk 

 quite smooth ; stamens about twenty ; styles mostly five. Fruit globose, 

 yellow, \ to f in.iacross. 



Native of the Altai region. The thorn described above is also known in 

 gardens as C. Korolkowi and C. sanguinea var. xanthocarpa. In foliage and 

 flower it bears a considerable resemblance to C. pinnatifida, but that thorn 

 has the leaves, flower-stalks, and calyx downy, and the fruit is never yellow. 



C. APIIFOLIA, Michaux. PARSLEY-LEAVED THORN, 



A shrub or miniature tree in this country, with slender, downy young shoots; 

 thorns I to i| ins. long. Leaves triangular to kidney-shaped, the lower ones 



