CRATÆGUS, WILD-SERVICE tree, Hawthorn, &c., a genus of plants, belonging to the icotandra clasf; and in the natural method ranking under the 36th order, Pomaceae. See Botany Index.

The oxyanthus, hawthorn, or white thorn, grows naturally all over Europe. It is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental tree, but it is chiefly propagated for the purpose of planting as a fence. In order to propagate a quantity of quicks, one method is generally practised; namely, first burying the haws, and taking them up to sow the October following; though, says Hanbury, there is another way more preferable; namely, to prepare the beds, and sow the haws soon after they are gathered. Whoever pursues the former method, having gathered what quantity of haws will answer his purpose, should in some bye-corner of the kitchen-garden or nursery dig a hole or pit capacious enough to receive them; some of the earth which came out of the hole, after the haws are put in it, should be laid upon them; and being thus carefully covered down, they may remain there till October. Then, having ground well dug, and cleared of the roots of all troublesome weeds, and the mould being fit for working, the beds should be made for the haws. Four feet is a very good width of these beds, as they may be easily reached over to be weeded; and if the alleys between be each one foot and a half wide, they will be of a good size. The beds being marked out with a line, sufficient mould must be raked out to cover the haws an inch and a half deep. This being done, and the bottom of the beds being made level and even, the haws should be sown, and afterwards gently tapped down with the back of the spade; and then the fine mould, which had been raked out of the beds, must be thrown over them, covering them an inch and a half deep. In the spring the plants will come up, and in the summer following should be kept clear of weeds; though it does sometimes happen, that few of them will appear till the second spring after sowing. Sometimes the young plants are planted out from the seedbeds at one, two, or three years old; but the best plants are obtained by transplanting them into fresh mould the first or second year, letting them remain in the nursery two or three years longer. The practice of the London nurserymen is this: The strongest of the feed-bed plants having been drawn at two or three years old for sale, they clean the beds entirely by drawing the remaining weak underling plants, and transplanting them into fresh beds in this manner, which they call bedding them: The ground having been trenched, and the tips of the plants as well as the lower fibres of their roots having been taken off with a sharp knife, they strain a line along one side of the bed; and by chopping with a spade by the side of the line, leave a cliff or drill of a depth proportioned to the length of the plants to be laid in; and drawing the loole mould somewhat towards them, leave the side of the drill next to the line with a smooth polished face. Against this face the plants are set up, leaning towards the line, about three inches slanting, leaving their heads about an inch above the mould, and placing their roots at such a depth as to bury their stems from two to three inches deeper than they flood in the seed-bed. The loose mould being returned and pressed gently to the roots with the foot, the line is removed, and another row planted in the same manner about a foot from the first.