16 MAGNOLIA ACUMINATA. 



fertile. To attain a larije .size, when cultivated, it requires a slieltered .situation, 

 and a deep, rieh .soil ; but it will grow in exposed sites, and in almost any soil 

 that is moderately free, and not surcharged with moisture. 



ProjKirr(i(ii>n and Culfiirc. The MaLMiolia acuminata is generally propagated 

 in the European nurseries by laytns; the ])lants .so produced llowering nnich 

 sooner than seedlings; but the latter, as they make far more durable jilants, 

 should always be preferred when this species is used as a stock to graft or inarch 

 others on. It is thus treated very generally, not oidy for the Magnolia auricu- 

 lata and cordata, but for the Magnolia conspicua and soulangeana. The plants 

 are sometimes grown in the free soil, but it is preferable; to rear them in pots : 

 because, in that case, they arc not checked by transj)lanting, and at least a year 

 is gained in their growth. Plants raised from seeds do not usually produce flow- 

 ers till they are eight or ten years old, when the tree will probably be fifteen or 

 twenty feet in height; but those propagated from layers produce flowers in two 

 or three years. 



Pf'ojxrlics and Uses. The wood of this species is soft and light, weighing, 

 when dry, twenty-six pounds to a cubic foot. Being comparatively rare in the 

 United States, its timber is not in general use. Where it can be obtained, it is 

 employed in joinery for the interior of houses, and for cabinet-making ; and, from 

 Its size and lightness, large trunks are selected for scooping out into canoes. 

 Many of the inhabitants of the Alleghanies gather the cones about mid-summer, 

 when they are half ripe, and steep them in whiskey, which thus becomes 

 extremely bitter, and habitually taken in the morning, is considered as a pre- 

 ventative against autumnal fevers. 



