196 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



of the Union, grows within 150 miles of the seashore. This 

 is the Magnolia of the swamps of New- Jersey, and the south, 

 [M. glauca,) of which so many fragrant and beautiful bou- 

 quets are gathered in the season of its inflorescence, brought 

 to New- York and Philadelphia, and exposed for sale in the 

 markets. It is rather a large bush, than a tree ; with shin- 

 ing, green, laurel-like leaves, four or five inches long, some- 

 what mealy or glaucous beneath. The blossoms about three 

 inches broad, are snowy white, and so fragrant that where 

 they abound in the swamps, their perfume is often percep- 

 tible for the distance of a quarter of a mile. 



The foreign sorts introduced into our gardens from China, 

 are the Chinese purple, [M. 'purpurea,) which produces an 

 abundance of large delicate purple blossoms, early in the 

 season ; and the Yulan or Chinese White Magnolia, {M. 

 conspicua,) a most abundant bloomer, bearing beautiful 

 cream-coloured, fragrant flowers in spring, before the leaves 

 appear. These succeed very well in sheltered situations, in 

 our pleasure-grounds, and add greatly to their beauty early 

 in the season. 



The Magnolia, in order to thrive well, requires a deep 

 rich soil ; which in nearly all cases, to secure their luxuri- 

 ance, should be improved by adding thereto some leaf mould 

 or decayed vegetable matter from the woods. When trans- 

 planted from the nursery, they should be preferred of small 

 or only moderate size, as their succulent roots are easily in- 

 jured, and they recover slowly when large. Most of them 

 may be propagated from seed ; but they flower sooner, grow 

 more vigorously, and are much hardier when grafted upon 

 young stocks of the Cucumber Magnolia. This we have 

 found to be particularly the case with the Chinese species and 

 varieties. 



