318 



THE MAGNOLIAS. 



than extermination. It 

 should be remembered 

 that they have been mere- 

 ly misapplied. There are 

 situations and circumstan- 

 ces in which the judicious 

 planter may use such trees 

 to advantage. There are 

 bleak exposed situations, 

 where the very first object 

 of the planter is to provide. 

 shelter, because this is no 

 less indispensable to that 

 comfort which every wise 

 man seeks in his residence, 

 than to the success of his 

 cultivation. In such cases 

 the most rapid growing 

 trees are needed, and it 

 would only be absurd to 

 plant others. But such a 

 plantation would be made 

 on the outskirts of the 

 grounds, and on the prin- 

 ciple of utility, — not on the 

 lawn or in the door yard, 

 or wherever it may be de- 

 sirable and necessary to 

 display taste and beauty. 



Among our hardy American deciduous species of 

 magnolia, .the acvminata (cucumber tree,) is much 

 the largest; specimens from sixty to eighty feet in 



' MAGNOLIA TRII'ETALA. 



height may yet be found in the scattering remains of 

 the forests of New York, and especially southward 

 toward the Alleganies. Michaux says:* "Itabounds 



• Worth American Sj-lva. 



FRUIT AND FLOWERS OF THE MAGNOLIA TUIPETALA. 



along the whole mountainous tract of the Alleganic 

 to their termination in Georgia, over a distance ( 

 nine hundred miles. The situations particular! 

 adapted to its growth are the declivities of moui 

 tains, narrow vallies, and the banks of torrents, whei 

 the air is constantly moist, and the soil deep and fe 

 tile." When this tree is transplanted at an early ag 

 to the lawn, where it has abundant space on all sid( 

 to assume its natural habits of growth, it throws o\ 

 side branches near the ground, takes a pyramid: 

 form, and tapers upwards with striking regularity an 

 symmetry. In this way only is its real magnificcnc 

 developed. Its leaves are large, — and especiall 

 where the trees are young and growing in a ricl 

 deep soil, — varying from six to ten inches long an 

 four to six wide. The flowers, which appear in Ma 

 or June, are three to four inches in diameter, of 

 bluish purple color on a dull white ground. Thi 

 tree is usually propagated from seed. The nursery 

 men who propagate it extensively, sow the seeds ii 

 beds of light mellow soil in the open ground. Tho& 

 who propagate it on a less extensive scale, will fin( 

 it quite as convenient to sow the seed in a shallov 

 box of light earth. At one year's growth the seed 

 lings may be transplanted into nursery rows. Thei 

 re-root slowly, and it is not until two years' growtl 

 after transplanting that they make a rapid, vigorou; 

 growth. 



The Magnolia iripetala, (three-petaled magnolia 

 or umbrella tree,) is much smaller than the preceding 

 and better adapted to planting on a small lawn oi 

 limited grounds. Michaux regards it as a " connect- 

 ing link between the larger shrubs and trees of the 

 third order, rarely attaining thirty or thirty-five feet 

 in height, and five or six inches in diameter." The 

 leaves are very large — twelve to twenty inches long, 

 and six to eight broad. The flowers are produced 

 on the points of the branches — very large, some six 



