November 25, 191S 



HARDWOOD RECORD 





'nU 



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Evergreen Magnolia 



Some people say that evergreen magnolia should be left as an 

 ornament of the landscape and should never go to the lumber 

 yard. The tree's beauty is peculiar and unusual w^ith dark green 

 crown and its light green trunk, rising above most of its associ- 

 ates; but its beauty does not save it from the lumberman's ax. 

 It was once fairly safe from the logger, but it is not now im- 

 mune. Millions of feet find the way to sawmills every year, but 

 not always under the same name, for, like so many of the little- 

 known species, it is liable to go to market under other names 

 than its own. 



In different regions it may be known as laurel, laurel bay, 

 laurel-leaved magnolia, bull bay, bay, large-flowered mag- 

 nolia, bat tree, and lately it has been going to market under the 

 name of swamp mahogany and yellow^ mahogany. Its leaves 

 resemble those of the laurel known as rhododendron, and that 

 accounts for some of its names; for it is not related to the 

 laurels. It is much nearer akin to yellow poplar. 



There are a number of magnolias in the United States, but 

 this is the largest, except yellow poplar and the cucumber tree. 

 It is found in most parts of the South, from Virginia to Texas, 

 but probably the finest specimens occur in the swamps of 

 Louisiana. It does best on ground not under water too much of 

 the time. It is an ornament in many a doleful tract. Its trunk is 

 nearly the color of the Spanish moss which hangs everywhere, 

 but not a great deal of it on the magnolia itself. It was once a 

 common practice of lumbermen to cut other trees and leave this 

 standing, because not readily salable; but that custom obtains 

 no longer. 



(To be continued) 



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