5SU 
THE CRATiEGUSj Oil THE THORNS. 
The species of Crataegus are naturally ex- 
tensively distributed ; someof them are found 
in Asia and the north of Africa ; but the 
greater number in Europe and North Ame- 
rica. In tliis country, several collections have 
been formed of greater or less extent, but that 
of Messrs. Loddiges, the eminent nurserymen, 
at Hackney, and that in the garden of the 
Horticultural Society of London, may be 
I ;iken as the most complete. 
The Crataegus family grows well in most 
soils and situations, at least sufficiently so to 
secure all that is required of small or orna- 
mental trees. It however, of course, grows 
best on soils the most suited to its nature, and 
in circumstances the most favourable to its 
existence : these are, a free open soil, of 
moderate depth, in a situation tolerably dry, 
as far as regards the drainage of the subsoil. 
On the other hand, any soil or situation 
where the fundamental points of preparation 
and management are at all attended to, will 
be found to admit of a far from incomplete 
measure of success. Those situations only 
in which the drainage of the soil is totally un- 
provided for, either by nature or art. can be 
considered as being altogether unfit for these 
plants. 
The species, as far at least as we intend 
considering them, are what are termed de- 
ciduous plants; that is, they shed the whole of 
their leaves annually. In habit, they admit 
of being grown under two characters ; either 
as small trees having a stem, or as bushes or 
shrubs, without any visible or obvious stem 
elevating the branches from the soil, but 
furnished more or less densely with branches 
quite down to the earth : these two characters 
may be applied almost indiscriminately to 
nearly all the kinds, and present the means of 
increasing the variety of character and appear- 
ance, so well provided for even in their na- 
tural forms of growth. Individually, our own 
taste would lead us to prefer the majority of 
them when furnished with a clean stem for a 
short distance from the ground, as we think 
then the graceful outline almost invariably 
assumed by the head of branches is displayed 
to much greater advantage. However, as we 
before remarked, in a collection, some of both 
forms should be adopted, for the sake of in- 
creasing, as far as such little points of attention 
can do, the variety which they may be made 
to display. 
• All the kinds flower abundantly, and pro- 
duce their seeds freely enough in the neigh- 
bourhood of London ; and by means of these 
they may be propagated, when such a course 
is thought desirable, It is, however, more 
usual to graft or bud the different kinds on 
the common white hawthorn, which is a free- 
growing plant, and is always abundant, and 
therefore well adapted for this purpose ; and 
they all thrive so freely when worked in this 
manner, and display their individual and 
natural characteristics so fully, that we see 
no ground of objection to this mode, of propa- 
gation, since it does not affect their habit, as 
it does that of some other plants. A decided 
advantage is sometimes realized, in conse- 
quence of being able to select strong and well- 
established stocks ; for by this means much 
larger plants are attained within a given space 
of time, than by any other method of propa- 
gation which would dispense altogether with 
this extraneous aid. Of the operation itself, 
it is only necessary to say, that they are 
grafted or budded in the ordinary way upon 
stocks previously prepared, and cultivated, so 
as to be furnished with an abundance of fibrous 
roots : they are either worked near the ground, 
and the young shoot trained up to a sufficient 
height, and then pruned so as to form the 
head ; or the stock is trained with a straight 
stem to a sufficient height, and then worked : 
the ultimate result in either case is the same ; 
though the latter is the most expeditious 
method of forming the head. For dwarf and 
bushy plants the training to form a leading 
stem is dispensed with, and the young shoots 
pruned back a little for a season or two, after 
which they should in all cases be allowed to 
assume their own peculiar way of growth, ex- 
cept some other definite object be in view. In 
cases where any branch may grow out in an 
awkward and straggling manner, it is so far 
desirable to apply the pruning knife as to re- 
move this objectionable tendency, but nothing 
more. Whether intended for dwarf bushy 
plants, or for standard ones, the young shoots, 
produced direct from the graft, must be pruned 
back for one or two seasons, in order to form 
the head of the J plants sufficiently thick of 
branches : at this stage, any badly placed or 
cross shoots ought to be cut cut altogether, 
and the rest shortened back about half their 
length ; this treatment may be repeated the 
next season ; and again, less rigorously in the 
following one, and it will seldom happen that 
much subsequent pruning will be needed. This 
work belongs properly to nursery culture. In 
most cases, it will be by far the easiest plan 
to procure young plants from the nurseries, 
instead of attending to these operations per- 
sonally ; especially as the plants are generally 
by no means expensive ones. 
Where it is judged desirable to raise young 
plants from seeds, the berries should be pro- 
cured in the autumn, and, after being mixed 
up with a considerable bulk of sand, they 
should be thrown into a heap, to remain one 
entire year ; after this, they may be sown on 
prepared and well pulverized ground, covering 
them to the depth of half an inch. The seed- 
