XXVI. iJOSA^CE^ : CRATiE^GUS. 3S1 



plate in Arb. Brit., 1st edit., vol. vi. ; and our .%. 670.), has finely cut 



leave.s ; the shoots are comparativeh' slender, the plant less robust, 



and the fruit smaller, than in the species. It is a very distinct and 



elegant variety. 

 C. O. 26 pteridifolia, C. ;jterif6lia Lodd. Cat. (Jig. 717. in p. 400.), 



resembles the preceding, but the leaves are longer in proportion to 



their breadth, and more elegantly cut. 

 C. O. 27 oxyphjlla Monckton. Leaves much larger than those of the 



species. Raised by General Monckton, at Soraerford, in ? 1837. 



Horticultural Society's Garden. 



H. Varieties differing in the Colour of the Leaves. 



C. O. 28 foliis aiireis Lodd. Cat., C. lutescens Booth, has leaves varie- 

 gated with yellow ; but they have generally a ragged and diseased 

 appearance, when fully expanded ; though, like those of most other 

 variegated deciduous plants, when first opening in spring, they are 

 strikingly showy and distinct. 

 I t C. (). 29 foliis argenfeis Hort. has leaves variegated with white; but, 



like the preceding variety, it cannot be recommended as handsome at 

 I any other period than when the leaves are first expanding. 



1^ C. O. 30 liicida. We apply this name to a very distinct and very 

 i beautiful-leaved variety, which forms a standard in the southern 



I boundary hedge of the Hort. Soc. Garden, and which, we trust, will 



i soon be propagated in the nurseries. The leaves are large, I'egularly 



! cut, somewhat coriaceous in texture, and of a fine Miining green. 



' The plant is of vigorous growth. 



! The common hawthorn, in its wild state, is a shrub or small tree, with a 

 ! smooth bark and very hard wood. The rate of growth, when the plant is 

 1 young, and in a good soil and climate, is from 1 foot to 2 or 3 feet a year, 

 1 for the first three or four years ; afterwards its growth is slower, till the 

 j shrub or tree has attained the height of 12 or 15 feet, when its shoots are 

 produced chiefly in a lateral direction, tendmg to increase the width of the 

 head of the tree rather than its height. In a wild state, it is commonly 

 found as a large dense bush : but, pruned by accident or design to a single 

 stern, it forms one of the most beautiful and durable trees of the third rank 

 that can be planted : interesting and valuable for its sweet-scented flowers 

 in May, and for its fruit in autumn, which supplies food ftir some of the 

 smaller birds during part of the winter. In hedges, the hawthorn does not 

 flower and fruit very abundantly when closely and frequently clipped ; but, 

 when the hedges are only cut in at the sides, so as to be kept withm bounds, 

 i'.nd the summits of the plants are left free and untouched, they flower and 

 fruit as freely as when trained as separate trees. The plant lives for a cen- 

 tury or two, and there are examples of it between 40 ft. and 50 ft. in height, 

 ] with trunks upwards of 3 ft. in diameter at 1 ft. from the ground. 

 The wood of the hawthorn is very hard, and difficult to work : its colour 

 i IS white, but with a yellowish tinge; its grain is fine, and it takes a beautiful 

 polish ; but it is not much used in the arts, because it is seldom found of suf- 

 ficient size, and is, besides, apt to warp. It weighs, when green, 68 lb. 12 oz. 

 per cubic foot ; and, when dry, 57 lb. 5 oz. It contracts, by drying, one 

 ^ eighth of its bulk. It is employed for the handles of hammers, the teeth 

 ^ of mill-wheels, for flails and mallets, and, when heated at the fire, for canes 

 and walking-sticks. The branches are used, in the country, for heating 

 . ovens ; a purpose for which they are very proper, as they give out much heat, 

 and possess the property of burning as readily when green, as in their drv 

 state. They are not less useful in the formation of dead hedges, for the 

 protection of seeds, or of newly planted live hedges or single trees ; and 



Ijthey will last a considerable time without decayinsr ; especially when thev have 



