AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES. 259 



The smooth greyish white bark of the straight trunk, which in 

 thick high forests is branchless to a considerable height, reminds 

 one of the beech. The crown is formed of thick, widely spread- 

 ing, but not so numerous nor so ramified branches, and its leaves 

 and flowers give the tree a peculiar beauty. The former strongly 

 resemble the leaves of the American Magnolia tripetala, Mich., espe- 

 cially in their prominence, but are much larger, viz., 15 to 20 cm. 

 long, and 5 to 8 cm. broad. They are elliptical and smooth-edged ; 

 on the upper side of a beautiful green colour, and underneath greyish 

 white, as indicated by the name " hypoleuca." Every branch de- 

 velops about ten leaves, which are crowded together in verticillate 

 form near the end. In the midst of this beautiful wreath of 

 leaves, there unfolds about the middle of May or beginning of 

 June a splendid large white flower, with a pine-apple-like perfume. 

 Even later in midsummer the H6-tree presents a surprisingly beau- 

 tiful appearance. When the wind sways the foliage of the mag- 

 nolia-lined mountain side, and the lower side of the leaf is turned 

 upward, the tree looks to one at a little distance as if it were for a 

 second time covered with blossoms. 



By October the trees are bare. The long ellipsoidal reddish 

 brown fruit-capsules, with their pink seeds, soon follow the leaves. 

 The seeds, like all of this species, soon lose their germinating 

 power, which is probably the main reason why the H6-no-ki is still 

 a stranger to our European gardens.^ 



The H6-no-ki in Japan surprises and delights every lover of 

 plants, and it is easy to agree with Dupont when he calls it more 

 ornamental than Magnolia grandiflor a. 



The light, greyish white wood changes gradually to a deeper 

 shade. It is soft, easily bent, and elastic, and has a fine even grain, 

 which makes it applicable to many uses. The wood engraver 

 uses it in patterns for cloth printing, and the lacquerer finds 

 it adapted to various small articles. The sides of the pretty, 

 light and durable oval bread-baskets are generally made out of 

 H6-no-ki. Two thin strips of the wood are bent around the 

 elliptical pinewood bottom, their sharpened ends bent over each 

 other and glued, and tacked to the bottom board. Sword sheaths 

 (Katana-no-Saya) were also formerly made out of H6-no-ki. In 

 ISliigata and Yonezawa it is used as the groundwork of nearly half 

 of all the lacquer ware, and from it is prepared the soft, fine-grained 

 charcoal which is used throughout the whole of Japan for rubbing 

 the lacquer, and for polishing the enamel of cloisonne ware. 



^ I have made repeated unsuccessful attempts to propagate this plant from the 

 seed in Europe. All magnolia seeds sprout on their way through the tropics, 

 and reach us with dried-up germ fibres. Out of a collection of badly packed 

 and half withered small trees which I received eight years since, about half a 

 dozen were saved in the Botanical garden at Marburg. Of these six, one was 

 sent to Garden-inspector Lauche, one to Prince Troubetzkoi at Intra, and a 

 third was given to the Botanical Garden at Frankfort. 



