are considered as troublesome intruders, while the latter, requiring the skill of 

 an experienced gardener, are valued accordingly. "Vegetation springing up 

 spontaneously, flourishing by our neglect, will always be viewed as common, and 

 unworthy of admiration. 



The locality in which our experience with the Magnolia has been gained, is 

 fully exposed to the North, and the influences of Lake Erie, between the 41° and 

 42° of north latitude. Our observations have been made upon the following 

 species and varieties, "to wit:" acuminata, glauca, tripetela, purpurea, Soulan- 

 geana, Thompsonii, and conspicua. All of these endure our climate as well as the 

 oak, and several of them, under my mode of propagating them, are attaining the 

 size and form of trees, though the natural tendency of the climate is to dwarf them. 

 Even the Soulangeana, which, Mr. Meehan says, can be hardly ranked as a tree, 

 has reached the height of fourteen feet (inclusive of four feet of the stock) in the 

 course of twelve years. To the foregoing list, we might probably have added 

 the macrophylla, auriculata, and cordata, had we been able to obtain them, and 

 submit them to a course of trial. 



The secret of our success consists mainly in propagating them on a hardy and 

 vigorous stock, which will supply them with a greater amount of nutrition than 

 most of the above species can derive from their native roots. In this vicinity, 

 the acuminata is indigenous, and is distinguished by its vigorous habits and 

 tenacity of life. It furnishes all the essential requisites for a stock on which to 

 propagate the other kinds. This stock imparts both vigor and hardiness to the 

 grafts, to an extent which, in some instances, converts them from a sickly and 

 dwarf shrub to a middle-sized, vigorous, and durable tree. This has been illus- 

 trated very satisfactorily in my grounds, by the M. glauca. In near contiguity 

 stand two of this species; one, on its own roots — the other, on the acuminate 

 stock. The first was produced from seeds sown in the autumn of the year 1842 ; 

 the latter was cut from the first, and engrafted upon a stock of the acuminata, in 

 the spring of 1846 or 184T. A careful measurement at this date (January 1, 1857), 

 shows the height of the seedling to be six feet and six inches, and the circumfer- 

 ence of its body six and one-half inches, while its engrafted progeny is fourteen 

 feet high, and the circumference of its body is nineteen inches. The former seemed 

 to attain its full development several years since, and, of late, expends its powers 

 in sending off lateral branches and suckers. At best, it is only a weak, ill-shapen, 

 and diminutive shrub ; its foliage, during summer, small and shallow, and its 

 blossoms sparse and imperfect. The latter is still a thrifty tree, annually extend- 

 ing a round and well-formed top, with its foliage large and rich-colored, and its 

 succession of flowers for several weeks numbering by hundreds every season. 



The PURPUREA and Thompsonii are as much improved by the aid of the acumi- 

 nata stock. 



The tripetela grows thriftily, for a few years, on its own roots, and then inclines 

 to die down to the ground. We have recently engrafted it upon the acuminata, 

 where it seems to flourish and give promise of durability. 



Our plants of the conspicua and Soulangeana, on their own roots, died some 

 years since, but not until we had secured both kinds by engrafting. Their prema- 

 ture deaths preclude our making a comparison between them and their engrafted 

 progeny. 



Of the latter, we have some fine specimens. One of our conspicua presents a 

 very uniform, round head, fourteen feet high. Its body girths, twenty-one inches. 

 The graft was inserted in the year 1846. All of my trees of the conspicua and 

 "angeana, promise an abundant bloom the ensuing spring, as every limb and 

 are terminated with blossom buds. They never suffer injury from the 



