32 



ECONOMICAL, ARTISTIC AND MEDICINAL USE OF PLANTS 

 COLLECTED. 



A report which is intended to be disseminated among the people 

 of the State, should not only be a scientific contribution, pointing 

 out all the striking points of interest, which relate to the particular 

 science of which it treats, but it should contain information of 

 practical value, which might be useful, not only to the farmer and 

 mechanic, but to every person who does not live exclusively for him- 

 self, and endeavors to exert his faculties for the advancement of 

 civilization, and the promotion of the happiness and well being of 

 mankind. 



I therefore consider it a matter of paramount importance to point 

 out the practical uses of the plants already collected, and thereby 

 show by irrefutable facts the practical bearing which botanical in- 

 vestigations have in all the pursuits of life, in the arts, mechanics, 

 agriculture, medicine, and even the domestic affairs of the house- 

 hold. It also shows that nearly all the accumulated wealth of every 

 country is derived from the vegetable kingdom, and that it is a sub- 

 ject well worthy of our study, and deserves our serious consider- 

 ation. 



TREES, SHRUBS AND VINES. 



The Large-flowered Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) is widely 

 diffused in Louisiana. Its glossy evergreen leaves and its large 

 odorous flowers render it unequalled as an ornamental tree. The 

 fine magnolia groves of some plantations present great natural 

 beauty, and these rural spots should never be desecrated by the axe 

 of the woodman. Every planter has a sufficient quantity of land 

 for cultivation without encroaching upon the clumps of magnolias, 

 which ought to be preserved as pleasure grounds or parks. This 

 tree grows in cool and shady places, where the soil is covered with 

 mold, and in pine barren swamps enriched by decayed vegetation. 

 Its bark was used by the Southern Indian in cases of intermittents. 

 Its wood, remarkable for" its whiteness, is too soft to be employed in 

 architecture or in cabinet work. 



The Tulip tree or the White.poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) has 

 been met with in East Baton Rouge and St. Landry, and other 

 parishes. It delights in deep loamy fertile soils, in rich bottoms 

 along the rivers or borders of swamps. Its wood, though light, is 



