MAG 



M A H 



length, and five or six in wiJth, narrowing to 

 a point at each exireiiiity, placed at the ends of 

 the branches in a circular manncf, somewhat 

 like an umbrella, whence its name : the flowers 

 are composed of ten, eleven, or twelve larsre, 

 oblong, white petals ; the omer ones haiiiiing 

 down : the seed-vessels are oblong, conical, be- 

 Iv. cen three and four inches in length, and ;tboi!t 

 an inch and half in diameter. The wood is soft 

 and spongy ; and the leaves drop off at the be- 

 ginning of winter. It is a native of Carolina, 

 Virginia, &c. 



Cultnve. — These plants may all be increased 

 by seetl, layers, and cuttings. 



In the liist mode, the seed, which is received 

 annually from America, preserved in sand, early 

 in the spring, should be sown as soon after as 

 possible in pots of light rich earth, half an inch 

 deep, plunging them in a moderate hot-bed, 

 to bring up the plants an inch or two in height, or 

 in the common earth under a warm wall or hedge, 

 or in a frame, in the full sun, till the middle 

 or latter end of April, then replunging them in 

 an easterly border open to the morning sun ; 

 giving moderate sprinklings of water in dry 

 weather. The plants will rise the same year ; 

 those in the hot-bed, probably in April, and the 

 others in ivJay, inuring those in the first situa- 

 tion timely to the full air. The plants should 

 all summer be regularly supplied with water, and 

 at the approach of winter be removed into a 

 green-house, or rather under a garden-frame, 

 to be sheltered from frost all winter, indulging 

 them with the open air in mild weather. If the 

 pots be plunged in a bark hot-bed, Sec, about 

 March, under a frame, two or three n)onths, it 

 ^vill forward the plants greatly ; being careful 

 to give water, and harden them to the'open air 

 graduallv, so as to be removed into it in their 

 pots tully in June, to remain till the autumn, 

 w hen tliey sliould be allowed shelter in winter, 

 as before. The spring following, they should 

 be planted into separate pots, and plunged into 

 R hot-bed as before to set them forward, givin"- 

 water, occasional shade, and the benefit of free 

 air ; and in .June removing the pots to a shady 

 border for the remainder of the summer. In 

 winter tliey should have shelter as before, from 

 severe frost, but have the full air in all open 

 weather. They require the same care for two or 

 three winters, when some of them may be turn- 

 ed out of, the pots with balls of earth about their 

 roots, into the full ground, in a warm sheltered 

 situation, particularly the deciduous kinds; but 

 the first or evergreen sort should not be too soon 

 exposed to the winter's cold, but be continued in 

 occasional shelter in the above manner four 

 or five years, till two, three, or more feet high; 



and when turned out, matted occasionally >n se- 

 vere winters, retainino; some in pots to be ma- 

 naged as green - house plants of the more 

 hardv kind. 



The layers should be laid down in autumn or 

 spring, choosing the young pliable shoots for 

 the purpose, giving them a gentle twist, or a 

 slit in the part laid into the earth. Some will be 

 well rooted in one year, others probably not in 

 less than two ; then take them ofl^, and plant 

 each in a pot in the early spring, plunging them 

 in a moderate hot-bed for a nionth or two, 

 to promote their growing freely at first, 

 and they will form good strong plants by the 

 following autumn, allowing them shelter in 

 winter for a year or two, when they may be 

 planted out. 



The cuttings should be made from the short 

 young shoots ©f the preceding year, and be 

 planted in pots of good earth, plunging them to 

 the rims in the common or stove hot-bed, giving 

 water and occasional shade ; some of them will 

 be rooted the same year, when they must be 

 inured by degrees to the open air, after which 

 they may be managed as the layers. 



The first or evergreen sort is one of then)ost 

 beautiful trees in nature, both in its growth, 

 and in the luxuriance of its noble leaves, 

 which render it singularly conspicuous at all 

 seasons. 



The deciduous sorts are also highly orna- 

 mental trees, and may be introduced into clamps 

 and shrubberies, where by their fine foliage 

 they exhibit an elegant variety. 



All the different species are cultivated in tha 

 nurseries, for sale, from which they maybe taken 

 up and planted outin the early spring or autumn 

 iiiontlis; but the former is the better. 



In their disposition in the shrubbery, as they 

 are rather tender in their early growth, they should 

 have a sheltered sunny situation, in a rather dry 

 -soil, being planted in the most conspicuous 

 places, and not too closely crowded with other 

 shrubs. 



They have also a good effect when disposed 

 singly in diflerent parts, in open spaces of short 

 grass-ground, in sheltered situationsj especially 

 the first sort. 



MAHF.RNIA, a genus containing plants of 

 the shrubby exotic kind, for the green-house. 



It belongs to the class and order Pentandria 

 Pentagynia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Coliimniferce . 



The characters are : that the calyx is a one- 

 leafed perianthiuni, five-cleft, bell-shaped; with 

 awl -shaped longer teeth; permanent: the co- 

 rolla has five heart-shaped petals, oblong, spread- 

 ing, twix;e as long as the calyx: nectaries five, 



