S10 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



a yen 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 allowanee 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 mixed with a sufficient quantity of 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 December, as soon as separated from 

 the pulp ; but, when they are to be separated by decomposition, in what is 

 technically called a rot-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 1 in. apart every way, and covered about a quarter of 

 an inch. The nursery culture required is mere routine. At the end of the 

 first year's growth, the strongest of the plants may be thinned out from the 

 beds, and planted in nursery lines; and in the autumn of the second year, the 

 remaining plants may be taken up for the same purpose. 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 in a 

 similar manner. Not only the different species of Crataegus, but those of 

 J/espilus, Morbus, Pyrus, and even Malus, Cydonia, Amelanchier, and others, 

 may be grafted on the common hawthorn; and in this way field hedges 

 might be rendered ornamental, and even productive of useful fruits. 



Statistics. Recorded old Hawthorn Trees. One is mentioned by Marsh am, which, in 1755, stood 

 by Hethel church, near Norwich, and measured in girt, at 4 ft. from the ground, 9 ft. lj in. ; 

 one arm of it extending above 7 yards. {Bath Soc. Pap., i. p. 66.) Dr. Walker notices the following 

 large hawthorn trees in Scotland : — On the island in Loch Leven, in Fifeshire, in 1796, a tree 

 girted 6 ft. 4- in., at 4 ft. from the ground ; one at Castle Huntly, in Forfarshire, 6 ft. 10 in., at 3 ft. 

 from the ground ; one at Kinkarochic, in the parish of Scone, in Perthshire, 9ft. in circumference 

 at 4 ft from the ground, the diameter of the head 42 ft. ; at Blair, in Athol, a double-flowered haw- 

 thorn, standing in the " Wilderness," in 1770, 20 years planted, was 15 ft. high, with a trunk 2 (t. 4 in. 

 circumference at 4 ft. from the ground. In Ireland, according to Hayes, the growth of the haw- 

 thorn far exceeds what takes place in England or Scotland. " There are, at Robert Stubber's, Esq., 

 at Mayne, several white thorns of 7 ft. and 8 ft. in circumference, with heads finely formed, and 

 great in proportion ; so that, when in flower, there can be nothing more beautiful. I mea. 

 lured one 5ft. 4 in. round the stem at 9ft. high; the branches extending 13 yards: another, 

 7 tt. 6 in. round the stem, in the smallest part ; the head entire, and covering a circle of 36 ft. in 

 diameter : and a third, the branches of which extended round a very fair stem, 24ft. on every side. 

 Thil last is one of the most beautiful thorns I ever saw ; but the largest I recollect to have ever seen 

 is at Ixml Gormanstown's, in the county of Meath. It was above 10 ft. in circumference, several 

 years since : it stood in the high road, and had received some injury, and was hooped round with 

 bands of iron when I last saw it ; so that, perhaps, it may have since decayed." (Pract. Treat, on 

 Plants, p. 52.) There is a remarkable old thorn in Dalham Park, Suffolk, mentioned in Jesse's 

 Git aningi, vol. iii. p. 272., but the dimensions are not given. 



( raw gat Oxgacdntha, and its Varieties, in the Environs of London. At Syon, and at various 

 Otbef placet, the double-blossomed and the scarlet hawthorns are from 25 ft. to 30ft. high. At Ham 

 HoUM there is a handsome tree of the variety with golden leaves, 13 ft. high. In the Hammer- 

 smith Nursery, CO. melanocarpa is 20 ft. high, diameter of the head 25 ft. and of the trunk 1ft. 

 C. Oxyacantha, and (U Varieties, South of London. In Devonshire, at Endsleigh Cottage, 20 

 planted, and 22ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 7 in., and of the head 14 ft. ; and C. O. 

 n planted, .md 18 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 6 in., and of the head 12 ft. In 

 ,t Melbury Park, the species, 100 years old, is 48 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft. 

 d IV ft., in strong loam on clay ; C. (). rosea, 50 years planted, and 32 ft. high, tht- 

 diaincter "f the trunk 1 ft 2 in , and of the head 30ft, in loam on gravel ; ('. 0. pra>'cox, the Gla*. 

 . . thorn, J 00 \< an planted, and 2] ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft., and of the head 



