88 CONVERSATIONS ON THE 



about a magnolia ; it said, the lofty magnolia : 

 do they grow very large ?" 



"Some of them do; the large magnolia 

 and the cucumber-tree are found sometimes 

 as high as eighty or ninety feet : the umbrella- 

 tree is the smallest, and is not often seen more 

 than thirty feet high : the others are about 

 forty or forty-five feet. But in the neigh- 

 bourhood of New- York and Philadelphia, the 

 white bay can hardly be called a tree, for its 

 usual height is not more than eight or ten feet ; 

 at the south, though, it grows to its full size. 

 The trunks of them all are straight and slen- 

 der, except that of the white bay ; and the 

 tops are of a regular and beautiful shape." 



" What a pity it is that such beautiful trees 

 should be good for nothing : why can they 

 not make things of the wood, Uncle Philip ?" 



" Because it is soft, and weak, and does not 

 last long : they make canoes sometimes of the 

 cucumber-trees, and the wood answers very 

 well for that purpose, being so light and 

 buoyant : but boats are a great deal better 

 than canoes, and the wood is not strong 

 enough to make boats of. It is not even good 

 for burning ; it gives but little heat, and burns 

 away very fast.' 



