FOREST TREES. 423 



For the sake of the blossom I have been careful to adorn my 

 garden with various varieties of Thorn (Cratagus). The common 

 Hawthorn (Cratcegns oxyacantha) is perhaps as beautiful as any, though 

 many of its varieties cannot be dispensed with in any well-ordered 

 garden. The bright Single Scarlet (fig. 950) is 

 the finest of all, and I have many trees of it. 

 The Double Pink is also desirable, and, though 

 far removed in beauty from the single, should 

 be grown, though more sparingly. There is 

 one peculiar variety, the Glastonbury Thorn 

 (C. oxyacantJia prcecox), which flowers about 

 Christmas, of which I have only recently pro- *'; 95. Red May. 

 cured an example. The suburbs of London during the brief time the 

 thorn, laburnum, horse-chestnut, and lilac are in flower, are really a 

 paradise ; and as this is frequently at Whitsuntide, the Whitsun 

 holiday is to the bulk of the labouring population of this overgrown 

 city the most delightful in the year. The thorn is extensively used 

 for hedging, and I have lately tried a novel mode of planting it. 

 Thorns are used about three feet high, and are planted in a double 

 row, crossing each other at an angle of 45. The object is rapidly 

 to secure a dense, stiff hedge, as the branches interlace in every 

 direction. There are very many distinct species of thorn, many of 

 which it is desirable to cultivate where there is room ; I have some 



four or five. 



" The hawthorn whitens ; and the juicy groves 

 Put forth their buds, unfolding by degrees, 

 Till the whole leafy forest stands display'J, 

 In full luxuriance, to the sighing gales." 



THOMSON'S Seasons. 



There is a beautiful tree, called the Maidenhair tree (Salisburia 

 adiantifolia), which I ought to possess, but do not. The leaves of 

 this tree are formed like the Maidenhair fern, and the whole tree is 

 exquisitely beautiful. 



I find that Mongredien, in his excellent book on trees, states that 

 the Lemon-scented Verbena (Aloysia ciiriodora,hg. 951) will live out 



