248 



Garden and Forest. 



[May 22, 1889. 



planted than they were thirty or forty years ago. As no one 

 ever sees a good plant of Magnolia conspictia in full bloom 

 without being filled with admiration and with the desire to 

 possess such a wonderful object, their comparatix'e rarity in 

 American gardens can only be explained by the facts that all 

 these plants are rather difficult to transplant, imless it is done 

 at the right time, and that they are fastidious about soil and 

 reipure clean and constant cultivation imtil they are fully es- 

 tablished. The secret of transplanting Magnolias successfully 

 consists in doing it as the leaves are opening ; that is in the 

 case of these Asiatic species, just after the fiowers have fallen. 

 I\hignolias have large, Hesh\' roots, which decay rapidly when 

 they are cut or bruised, and do not, therefore, recover easily 

 from transplanting unless the plants are moved at a time 

 when they are in active growth, and so in a condition to make 

 new root-growth rapidly. Magnolias moved early, while the 

 roots are dormant, often suffer seriously or do not start to 

 grow again, so that by many people they are considered diffi- 

 cult trees to transplant, while in reality they are not, if the pe- 

 culiar character of their roots is considered, more difficult to 

 manage than other trees. They all dread drought, and do 

 best in peaty soil. Drainage does not appear essential, and 

 fine plants are developed in positions where the ground is 

 saturated with water during several months of the year, and 

 where it is never completely dry during periods of protracted 

 drought. Such constant moisture is not, however, necessary 

 to them, and very fine specimens may be seen growing in 

 good, ordinary garden-soil. They love the same treatment 

 as the Rhododendrons — a soil of peat, leaf-mould, sand and 

 turfy loam deep enough to prevent dryness at the roots, and 

 an open situation in the fidl sun, that the flowering wood may 

 be thoroughly ripened. The ground about them should be 

 kept clean and welj cultivated for a few years after planting, 

 and abundant space be allowed for the free lateral develop- 

 ment of the lower branches. 



It is now known — thanks to the intelligence of an American 

 horticulturist — that all of the Chinese Magnolias grow more 

 rapidly and make larger and more shapely plants if they are 

 grafted on some one of the strong-growing American species. 

 Magnolia acuminata and M. tripetala are used for this pur- 

 pose in American nurseries, and each is preferred by differ- 

 ent cultivators. Only plants grafted upon one of these spec- 

 ies should be bought or planted, as they are unquestionably 

 better than any others. 



These Magnolias are naturally shapely plants, and they suf- 

 fer from crowding. Indeed, their proper use is as single 

 specimen plants, isolated upon the lawn or rising from the 

 midst of broad masses of Rhododendrons, whose dark-green 

 foliage makes a proper setting for the blooming but leafless 

 Magnolias. The foliage, when it does appear, is rather heavy; 

 the outline of the plants is bushy and compact, and they do 

 not compose well with other trees, if brought into immediate 

 connection with them. 



The earliest to flower is the little shrubby Magnolia stellata 

 (the J/. Halleatta of some American gardens), the last introduced 

 into our gardens, and still very rare here. It has been so often 

 described in these columns that further mention of it is unneces- 

 sary beyond the bare facts that it is perfectly hardy, that it flowers 

 here soon after the middle of April, and that it is one of the 

 most beautiful and desirable shrubs of recent introduction. 



Magnolia conspicua follows M. stelleta in time of blooming, 

 its flowers opening here in ordinary seasons about the first of 

 May. This is the handsomest of the whole series in flower, and 

 the most desirable, except that here in New England the flower- 

 ing period is sometimes cut short by the north-east rain-storms, 

 which often arrive simultaneously with the flowers; and that in 

 climates where spring frosts prevail these early flowers are 

 destroyed. M. conspicua is a shapely, round-headed tree, 

 capable of reaching a height of fifty feet or more under favorable 

 conditions. It is low-branched, the main branches dividing 

 in many tortuous, branching divisions. The bark of the stem 

 and of the main branches is smooth and ashy gray; that of the 

 young branches is chestnut-brown. The flower-buds which 

 are formed during the summer, are large, and protected dur- 

 ing winter by thick, woolly, stipular sheaths. The flowers, with 

 petaloid sepals, are pure creamy-white and pleasantly fra- 

 grant ; they are cup-shaped, four or five inches deep, with 

 obovate, mucronate sepals and petals, two inches broad, 

 and red stamens. They are produced in the greatest pro- 

 fusion, and quite cover the trees as with a white sheet. They 

 are quickly followed by the leaves, which are obovate, con- 

 tracted into a short stout point, three or four inches long, 

 downy when young on the lower surface, ultimately thick and 

 deep dark green. The fruit is slender, often contorted, and 

 two or three inches long. It is produced here abundantly. 



Magnolia conspicua is a native of China, where it seems to 

 be widely distributed from the neighborhood of Pekin to 

 Shanghai, and probably also of Japan, where it is very 

 generally cultivated. It is the Yulan of the Chinese and of 

 European gardens, and the Magnolia Vulan of Desfontaines 

 and some other botanists. An interesting account of this tree 

 may be found in the " Memoires concernant I'Histoire des 

 Sciences des Chinois," written by the early French mission- 

 aries at Pekin (iii., 441), from which it appears that the Yulan 

 was cultivated under the dynasty of Tang in 627, and has since 

 been always a favorite in the gardens of the Imperial palaces 

 and of the temples, and that young plants are used for the 

 decorations of the Imperial apartments in winter. It is the 

 symbol of candor and of beauty; and a powder prepared from 

 the green fruit is used to alleviate bronchial affections. 



Magnolia conspicua was introduced into Europe as early as 

 1779, but it was much later before its beauty was appreciated 

 and it became common in cultivation there. There seems to 

 be no record of its earliest introduction into the gardens of the 

 United States, and if there are any very large plants in the 

 country they will be found, probably, near some of the large 

 cities of the Middle or South Atlantic States. The best in the 

 north are in the city of Newburg, where very fine symmetrical 

 specimens may be seen, planted, no doubt, by Downing, or 

 propagated in the nurseries which he early established there, 

 and from which many good plants were sent into the gardens 

 of this country. 



Thunberg, who was in Japan from 1773-79, discovered there 

 a small shrubby Magnolia, with slightly obovate or acuminate 

 leaves, precocious, fragrant flowers, with very small yellow or 

 yellow-green, narrowly acuminate sepals and large acuminate 

 petals, deep purple on the exterior, and creamy-white on the 

 interior face. This is the M. obovata, variously known also as 

 M. purpurea, M. discolor and M. denudata. It was introduced 

 into Europe a few years after its discovery. It is a hardy shrub, 

 once a great favorite in gardens, although now much less 

 commonly seen than formeriy, having given way to that race 

 of hybrids of which it is one of the parents. 



The first of these hybrids dates from 1826. It sprang from a 

 seed of a Magnolia conspictia in the garden of M. Soulange- 

 Bodin, of Fremont, in France, of which the flowers had been 

 fertilized with the pollen of M. obovata. Whether this hybrid 

 was the result of chance, or of intention, is doubtful. Loudon 

 (" Arboretum," i., 278) speaks confidently of " accidental fecun- 

 dation," but in the elaborate account of this hybrid, to which is 

 joined the earliest figure, published in the Annates de la Societe 

 d' Horticulture de Paris (i., 90), it is expressly stated that M. 

 Soulange intentionally hybridized the flowers of M. conspicua 

 with pollen of M. obovata. It is now known as Af. Soulangeana, a 

 and is almost intermediate between the two parents, except in ■ 

 habit, which is arborescent, and not diflerent from that of M. 

 conspicua. The leaves are intermediate in size and narrowly 

 obovate, with the point of those of M. conspicua. The flowers 

 are also intermediate in size, with smaller sepals than occur on 

 those of M. conspicua, although still petaloid, and the sepals 

 and petals are streaked, especially towards the base, with pur- 

 ple. This plant, although far less beautiful in the color of its 

 flowet^s than M. conspicua, has the advantage of blooming a 

 week or ten days later, and therefore at a time when storms 

 and frosts are less liable to injure the flowers. It is as hardy 

 as either of its parents, and produces fertile seeds. 



A number of other hybrids between these species appeared 

 in Europe about the same time as M. Soulangeatia, differing in 

 the amount and in the shade of purple of the flowers, and 

 especially in the size and shape of the sepals. Magnolia 

 Alexandrina and M. speciosa, according to Karl Koch, 

 originated in the garden of M. Cels, a famous French patron 

 of botany and horticulture, and M. Nortbertiana, another 

 hybrid in that of Soulange-Bodin. The plant which grows here 

 under the last name is remarkable for its small greenish-white 

 acute sepals, hardly larger than those of M. obovata. The 

 flowers are only faintly marked with purple, are small, three to 

 three and a half inches deep, and are the last to appear, being 

 fully a week later than those of M. Soulangeana, and between 

 two or three weeks later than those of M. conspicua. The trees 

 are as free-growing as the others, and equally hardy. Whethei" 

 this is the variety originally distributed as M. Nortbertiana it is 

 impossible to say, or to satisfactorily distinguish any of the 

 various forms of these hybrids except the original M. Sou- 

 langeana. They vary little among themselves ; descriptions, 

 when they can be found, are not reliable, and there are no 

 colored figures which can be depended on to refer to. Cer- 

 tain forms are known traditionally in certain nurseries or gar- 

 dens under certain names, but such traditions are always 

 misleading, and it seems hopeless, at least with the informa- 



