FOREST TREES. 423 



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

 garden ^ith various varieties of Thorn {Cratcsgus). The common 

 Hawthorn {Cratcegus Oxyacanthd) 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. Oxyacantha prcecox), which flowers about 

 Christmas, of which I have only recently pro- fjg. 950.— 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 disti'nct species of thorn, many ot 

 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'd, 

 In full luxuriance, to the sighing gales." 



Thomson's Seasons. 



There is a beautiful tree, called the Maidenhair Tree {Salisburia 

 adiantifolia, fig. 949 «), 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 citriodora, fig. 951) will live out 



