APPENDIX. 123 



were between fifty and sixty young plants, which must have ehided the 

 gardener's search, though he was particularly careful in extracting 

 them. From these facts it may be readily conceived how difficult it 

 is to extirpate this weed, when once it has taken possession of the 

 soil." 



Thomas Spencer, of Salem, a gentleman distinguished inr his 

 fine taste and skill in botany, from whom 1 received the foregoing, 

 allows me to add his opinion in regard to a native thorn for hedges. 

 " There is a native shrub abundant in this vicinity most admirably 

 adapted for fences; the common Cockspur Thorn (Cratagus Cms 

 Gain.) In all the essentials of a fencing shrub it fully equals 

 the English hawthorn to which indeed it is closely allied. The spikes 

 of this shrub are more than an inch long, so that a hedge formed of 

 it would present an almost impregnable barrier, bidding defiance to 

 all intruders, whether biped or quadruped. Several plants of this 

 shrub have been suffered to stand near the entrance of the Forest- 

 river road till they have assumed the size of trees. In the spring they 

 are covered with a profusion of white blossoms; and in the fall their 

 rich scarlet fruit never fails to attract attention. In these particulars 

 this shrub strikingly resembles its English congener. Indeed, the 

 points of resemblance are so many and so striking, that it ought to be 

 called the American hawthorn. Like the English haw its fruit re- 

 quires two years to vegetate." 



Bees. 



Extract from a Letter of a respected correspondent at Salem, January 

 2, 1838. 



" I have long been deeply interested in the management of bees and 

 shall continue the experiments upon hives, and the general manage- 

 ment and preservation of this valuable insect, upon which I have 

 been engaged the last four years, in the hope of adding something to 

 the little already known. 



" Your first inquiry is as follows : ' What do you hold to be the gen- 

 eral and usual errors in the management of bees V 



" I presume this question to refer to that kind of management which 



