332 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 
some regard to the spines by which they are defended. The fruit is astringent. 
By far the most important use of the hawthorn is as a hedge plant. For 
this purpose, it is planted in single or in double lines, most commonly along 
the margin of a ditch; though, however convenient this may be with respect 
to fencing the plants when young, and draining the soil, it is a great draw- 
back to their progress afterwards, by preventing their roots from extending 
themselves, except on one side; and, by the drainage of the ditch, it also 
deprives them of their natural share of moisture. Wherever thorn hedges 
are planted, and intended to thrive, the ground ought to be trenched at 
least 2ft. in depth, manured if poor, and the plants inserted on a flat sur- 
face, so as to receive and retain the whole of the moisture that falls from the 
heavens. 
The hawthorn will do no good unless planted in a soil naturally dry and 
fertile, or that has been rendered so by art. The plant is never found natu- 
rally on a wet soil ; and, if planted on sucha soil, it soon becomes stunted, 
and covered with lichens and moss. The situation should be airy; but it 
will grow either in exposed places, or in such as are sheltered, and even some- 
what shaded, by other trees. In cases of this kind, however, it neither forms 
a handsome tree, nor a close thick hedge. 
The species is almost always propagated by seeds, but sometimes by cut- 
tings of the roots; which, when about half an inch in thickness, and 1 ft. or 
18in. in length, and planted with the root end undermost, speedily make 
large plants. Where old thorn plants are taken up, the roots may always be 
used for forming new hedges; but it must be acknowledged that, as they do 
not all send up shoots equally, some remaining a year in the ground before 
they do’so, the preferable mode is to plant them in a nursery for the first 
year ; or, if this is not done, they ought to be planted thick, so as to make 
allowance for some not pushing till the second year, and some not pushing 
at all. 
When the hawthorn is to be raised from seed, the haws should not be 
gathered till they are dead ripe; which will be in October or November. As 
many haws contain more than one seed, they ought not to be put in the 
ground entire, but, if they are to be sown immediately, they must be mace- 
rated in water till the pulp is separated from the nuts; and the latter should 
then be mixed with dry sand, to keep them separate, and to enable the sower 
to scatter them equally over the surface. But, as the seeds do not come up 
till the second year, a saving of ground is made by keeping them the first 
year in a heap, technically called a rot-heap, mixed with a sufficient quantity 
cf soil, to prevent them from heating, and to facilitate the decomposition of 
the pulp. These heaps are kept in the open air, and exposed to the full 
influence of the weather; care being taken to turn them over frequently, at 
least once a month, so as to equalise this influence. When the seeds are 
not to be prepared in a heap, they should be sown in November or Decem- 
ber, as soon as separated from the pulp; but, when they are to be separated 
by decomposition in a heap, they need not be sown till the February, or even 
the March, of the second year; by which means fifteen or sixteen months’ use 
of the soil is saved. They may be sown thinly in beds, the seeds being scat- 
tered so as to lie about lin. apart every way, and covered about a quarter of 
aninch. The nursery culture required is mere routine. Hawthorns ought 
always to be two years transplanted before they are employed for hedges; 
younger and untransplanted plants, though cheaper to purchase, are always 
the most expensive to the planter, as they require temporary protection for a 
longer period. As stocks, hawthorn plants may be treated like stocks for 
fruit trees ; and the different species and varieties may be budded and grafted 
on them, either for dwarfs or standard high, in a similar manner. Not only 
the different species of Cratz‘gus, but those of Méspilus, Sérbus, Pyrus, and. 
even Malus, Cydonia, Amelénchier, Eriobétrya, and others, may ve grafted on 
the common hawthorn; and in this way field hedges might be rendered 
ornamental, and even productive of useful fruits. 
