154 THE NURSERY. [Feb. 



even then, until they have arrived at a sufficient size not to be 

 injured by such. 



It was an old practice to sow these seeds as soon as ripe, cover- 

 ing them about an inch deep; but the loss of the ground during the 

 long period in which they lie dormant, the trouble and expense of 

 weeding them all that time, the numbers pulled up and exposed to 

 animals of various sorts, and I may say the exposure of the whole 

 to mice, squirrels, &c. have very justly induced to the abandonment 

 of that mode of culture. 



Indeed, they may be sown with considerable safety the Novem- 

 ber twelve months after they are ripe, being previously prepared as 

 before directed, there is no impediment in their way at that season, 

 but their long exposure to the depredations of mice, &c. which are 

 extremely fond of their kernels; as to frost they value it not. 

 However, upon the whole, I prefer the early spring sowing, and 

 have generally practised it with the best success. 



Many of these plants, and indeed the greater numbers, if the 

 ground be good, will be fit for planting into the face of ditches 

 the autumn or spring following, and the entire of them that time 

 twelve months; but if they are intended for forming upright hedges, 

 the strongest of the year old plants must, in the month of March, 

 or very early in April, be drawn out of the seed beds, their long 

 tap-roots cut oft', so as to shorten them to the length of five or six 

 inches, and then planted into nursery rows about two feet asunder, 

 and the plants to be about six inches distant in these rows; having 

 there two or three years' growth, they will be in prime condition for 

 that purpose; the remaining plants may be taken up the spring fol- 

 lowing, and treated in the same way. 



It often happens that an after growth of young plants arises in the 

 seed-bed the second year, particularly when the haws have not been 

 well prepared; these seldom come to any thing: but if you pursue 

 the method already prescribed, you may depend on a good and 

 general crop the first year. 



The various kinds of hawthorns that, on account of their spini- 

 ness might suit for live hedges, are the following; all being indige- 

 nous in the United States, except the first, which is the kind 

 principally used in Europe for that purpose. 



1. Crataegus oxyacantha, or common European hawthorn, or 

 whitethorn. Leaves obtuse subtrifate serrate. 



With a robust trunk, branching from the bottom upwards to 

 ten or fifteen feet high, the branches armed with spines; leaves 

 obtuse, triful and sawed, with numerous clusters of flowers from 

 the sides and ends of the branches, succeeded by bunches of dark- 

 red fruit, commonly called haws; flowers two-styled, sometimes 

 three or four. 



2. Crulvegus coccinea, or great American hawthorn. Leaves 

 cordate-ovate, gash-angled, smooth; petioles and calyxes glandu- 

 lar; /lowers Jive-styled. 



This rises when detached to the height of near twenty feet, with 

 a large upright trunk, dividing into many, strong, irregular, smooth 

 branches, so as to form a large head. Leaves large and bending 



