864 TREES. 



Lastly, it is one of the easiest plants to propagate. It bears ber- 

 ries in abundance. These, if planted in autumn as soon as they 

 are ripe (or even in the ensuing spring), will germinate in the spring, 

 and if the soil is good, give plants from a foot to twenty inches high 

 the first year which are large enough for transplanting the next 

 spiing following. The seeds of the hawthorn do not vegetate till 

 the second year, and the plants properly require to be transplanted 

 once in the nurseries, and to be three years old, before they are fit 

 for making hedges. Here is at once a most obvious and important 

 saving of time and labor. 



It is but a simple matter to raise buckthorn plants. You begin 

 by gathering the seeds as soon as they are ripe, say by the middle 

 of October.* Each berry contains four seeds, covered with a thin 

 black pulp. Pkce them in a box or tub ; mash the pulp by beat- 

 ing the berries moderately with a light wooden pounder. Then put 

 them in a sieve, pour some water over them, rub the seeds through, 

 and throw away the skin and pulp. Two or three rubbings and 

 washings will give you clean seed. Let it then be dried, and it is 

 ready for sowing. 



Next, choose a good bit of deep garden soil. Dig it thoroughly, 

 and give it a good dressing of manure. Open a drill with the hoe, 

 exactly as you would for planting peas, and scatter the seed of the 

 buckthorn in it, at an average of two or three inches apart. Cover 

 them about an inch and a half deep. The rows or drills may, if 

 you are about to raise a large crop, be put three feet apart, so that 

 the horse cultivator may be used to keep the ground in order. 



In the spring the young plants will make their appearance plen- 

 tifully. All that they afterwards require is a thorough weeding, and 

 a dressing with a hoe as soon as they are all a couple of inches high, 

 and a little attention afterwards to keep the ground mellow and free 

 from weeds. One year's growth in strong land, or two in that of 

 tolerable quality, will render them fit for being transplanted into the 

 hedge-rows. 



* The buckthorn is pretty largely cultivated for its berries at the vari- 

 ous Shaking Quaker settlements in this State and New England : and seeds 

 may usually be procured from them in abundance, and at reasonable prices. 



