272 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART in. 



Upper part of the southern states, and east of the Alleghanies, have been un- 

 successful. In Tennessee it is found spaiingly at intervals of 40 or 50 niilea. 

 It appears to delight in cool sheltered situations, where the soil is deep and 

 fertile ; and, as already observed, it is constantly attended by the M. tripetala. 



History. It was discovered by the elder Michaux, in 1789, but was not in- 

 troduced into England till imported by the Messrs. Loddiges in 1800. It has 

 rarely, if ever, been propagated in this country by inarching or layers, and 

 very seldom from seeds ; and, hence, the plant is very sparingly distributed. 

 In France, it seems to have been introduced about the same time as in England ; 

 and it seems to prosper better in the clhnate of Paris, as there, in the nur- 

 sery of M, Godefroy, it has ripened seeds, from which, in 1827, young plants 

 were raised. In Britain, young plants are constantly imported from the 

 New York and Philadelphia nurseries. 



Soil and Situation. The most suitable situation for this species is one per- 

 fectly sheltered on every side, and slightly shaded from the mid-day sun. The 

 soil should be a deep dry sand ; at all events, those trees in England which 

 have attained the largest size, stand in vsoil of this description ; our compa- 

 ratively moist winters rendering such a soil advantageous, by preventing the 

 excess of moisture from rotting the roots, or damping olF the plant when young, 

 at the surface of the ground. 



Propagation and Culture. Neither this species nor M. tripetala can be readily 

 grafted or inarched on each other, or on any other species, as far as expe- 

 rience has hitherto gone in Britain ; probably from the large proportion which 

 the pith bears to the ligneous part in young shoots; nevertheless, accordmg to 

 Bonpland, it has been in one or two cases successfully effected in France. M. 

 Soulange-Bodin, having been unsuccessful in various attempts to inarch M. ma- 

 crophylla on M. tripetala, thought of trying it on M. auriculata ; but it only lived 

 a very short time, and then died. It will root by layers with great difficulty ; and 

 plants so raised, from their want of vigour, will probably not be of long duration. 

 The only mode worthy of general adoption is, to raise it from seed ; and, as these 

 are produced in abundance at Fromont, at the nursery of M. Godefroy, at Ville 

 d'Avry, and at other places in France, there is no necessity for having re- 

 course to any other method. If any species of magnolia, the young shoots of 

 which are so abundant in pith, and the entire plant so liable to die down to 

 the ground and shoot up again, as M. tripetala and M. macrophylla, is to be 

 grafted at all, the operation ought, as it appears to us, to be performed on 

 the root, which, as in the case of all ligneous plants, is without pith. 



Statistics, The largest Magnoha macrophylla in England, is that at 

 Arley Hall, the seat of the Earl of Mount Norris. This fine tree is a 

 standard, 28 ft. 6 in, high, with a trunk 6 in. in diameter at a foot from 

 the ground, and a head 17 ft. in diameter. The next largest standard is 

 that at the Duke of Devonshire's villa at Chiswick, which, in 1835, was 

 22 ft. high. At Harringay there is a tree against a wall, which, in 1835, 

 was 22 ft. high, and, like that at the Duke of Devonshire's, it flowers 

 abundantly every year. It was planted in 1814, and has never received the 

 slightest protection. In the grounds of a villa at Kensington Gore, adjoining 

 the Brompton Nursery, is a standard tree 18 ft. high, which flowers every yeai*. 

 At White Knights there is a standard tree, 20 ft. high, that has been 30 years 

 planted. At Southill, in Bedfordshu'e, there is a standard, 22 years planted, 

 which is 12 ft, high. The tree stands in the open air in the neighbourhood of 

 Edinburgh and of Dublin ; but there are no remarkable specimens. In France, 

 the largest M. macrophylla is at Fromont, which, in 1835, measured 24 ft., 

 and the branches covered a space of 15 ft. in diameter. It has flowered every 

 year since 1826, and it ripens seeds in October, from which many young plants 

 have been raised. There are plants of this species, of considerable size, at 

 Ville d'Avry, and in several of the other Parisian nurseries. In Germany, 

 the species is a green-house plant, and in the south of Europe it has not yet 

 been generally tried. There are plants of it in the collection at Monza. 

 Plants should always be purchased in pots. The price, in London, of two-years- 

 old seedlings, is 16s.; at BoUwyller, ?; and at New York, 1 dollar. 



