384 THE THORN. 
everywhere in Great Britain as the best plant for forming 
hedges, 
The many hundred thousands of this useful plant which are 
yearly formed into hedges throughout the country, are all 
produced from seeds, which are well known under the name 
of haws. When these become thoroughly ripe, which is gene- 
rally the case in the end of October or November, they should 
be collected. As the seeds do not vegetate the succeeding 
season, they should be placed in a pit, and mixed up with as 
much sand or light sandy soil as will prevent fermentation, 
where they should be turned over every two months or so, to 
induce decomposition equally throughout the mass. They 
should be removed and sown after undergoing this treatment 
in the pit or rot heap for twelve or fourteen months. Dry 
open weather in winter is the best sowing time. 
Another mode of treatment is to sow the seeds immediately 
after they are collected, covering them about two inches, and 
sowing any light annual crop on the surface of the same ground, 
such as onions, radishes, or cabbage plants, which should be 
carefully removed, after which the surface of the beds should be 
regularly dressed and raked, leaving half an inch cover on the 
seeds, with the edges of the beds and alleys well defined. 
Ihave practised both these modes successfully with the seeds 
of hawthorn, holly, and the like, which do not vegetate the 
first year, and while I have found the latter method—that of 
immediate sowing when the seeds are quite ripe—to be the 
most convenient and sure when the quantity is small and apt to 
be overlooked, I adopt the process of pitting and rotting for a 
year in all cases where they are to be grown on a large scale. 
The soil most suitable for seedlings is that which is free or 
easily pulverized, rather dry than otherwise,—such as a sandy 
loam, and very rich. The thorn does not object to any quantity 
of manure, and if the soil is not very rich, well-made manure 
may be applied in digging for the seed-beds. 
A bushel of haws newly gathered, or that quantity dissolved 
with the mixture of earth employed, is generally sufficient for 
about twenty lineal yards of a bed four feet broad. After being 
