THE MAGNOLIA, ITS VARIETIES AND CULTIVATION. 
437 
continue annually, and no plant pays better 
than the popular species of this noble genus. 
GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 
The greenhouse and frame varieties or 
species are by no means so valuable as plants 
as those which will grow in the open air, nor 
are the flowers so noble. The grandiflora 
family are the most splendid evergreens known 
in the country. The foliage is bright and 
Jarge, forming a close and noble tree, of large 
dimensions in a few years. It is called hardy, 
but suffers from any great degree of frost, 
the same as the bay will ; and we should say 
it is of much the same nature as to its power 
of resisting frost. This has led to its being 
much more frequently grown on walls and on 
fronts of houses than as standards, but as a 
noble object in shrubberies, a standard is far 
more interesting, and the wall does not always 
save it. On the contrary, we think the sudden 
changes, which are felt more acutely on south 
walls, frequently punish it more than it would 
be punished in a more open situation. We 
have seen the Magnolias and Bays matted in 
the autumn, but there is something so un- 
couth, and withal unnatural, in a tree in 
the open air being confined in mats, that we 
would always rather run the risk than see a 
garden so disfigured. We believe that when 
it is grown on walls, it suffers less when it 
does not get all the sun than when it does, 
yet a north or east aspect exposes it too much. 
The finest plants we ever saw of the Mag- 
nolia yrandiflora, were at White Knight's, 
where a great many feet of wall were covered 
with twenty very superb plants, blooming 
freely, and emitting a perfume perfectly en- 
chanting as the wind wafted it towards the 
visitor. 
In planting out a specimen to grow up as a 
standard, it should be on ground well drained, 
and in a spot completely sheltered from the 
north and east winds. The ground should 
be prepared for at least three feet all round it, 
and be composed of half peat earth with the 
turf in it, and the other half the natural top 
soil ; and this mixture ought to be two feet 
deep. The roots should be spread outwards 
all round, and if there be any that strike 
downwards like horse-radish or carrots, com- 
monly called tap roots, they must be cut off 
close up to the tree ; any bruised ends to the 
roots should be cut smooth, and all broken 
ones cut off, so that no damaged portion re- 
main on the tree by any means. Plant nearly 
at the top of the soil; on no account let the 
collar of the root be under the surface, and 
drive in stakes to prop the tree against the 
slightest disturbance by the wind. Let it be 
well trodden in all round, and watered. 
All the other species may be served in the 
same way, but some of them are more hand- 
some as shrubs than trees. Some of the 
species are evergreen, others deciduous ; and 
some of the deciduous kinds are remarkable 
for blooming before a leaf appears, and so 
abundantly as to cover the tree with flowers. 
There is nothing showy in the favourite 
greenhouse species called Magnolia fuscata; 
but the flowers, which are a mixture of dingy 
pinky brown and dull yellow or cream colour, 
have a perfume so like that of a ripe melon, 
that nobody who was unacquainted with the 
fact, would hesitate at pronouncing it the 
smell of the fruit instead of a flower. There 
is nothing in the appearance of the plant to 
render it a favourite, nor in the flower, except 
its perfume, to retain for it a place among 
choice collections. 
RAISING FROM SEEDS. 
The North American species may be raised 
in spring from seeds saved in this country or 
imported. Let there be pans or large-mouthed 
pots filled with the kind of earth we have 
already mentioned ; and after placing the 
seeds wide enough apart to give them room to 
grow, cover them half an inch, and put them, 
if you can, in a warm frame, or moderate hot- 
bed. When they come up, keep them clear of 
weeds, give them occasional water, and at- 
tend closely to them till they are large enough 
to conveniently pot off, one each into small 
forty-eight sized pots ; water them to settle 
the earth about their roots, return them to 
the hot-bed two or three days to establish their 
growth, and then put them out in a cold 
frame, but let them have no cold winds or 
rain for a few days. After this they may 
have air in mild weather, and genial showers 
of rain, but not too much wet. As the 
autumn approaches, shut them down earlier 
at night, and open them later in the morning. 
Young plants like these in a growing state 
are very susceptible of damage. When the 
pots fill with roots, or the roots reach the sides, 
and begin to meet round it, shift them into 
size thirty-two, and plunge them into the 
ground, because it prevents the soil from 
drying so rapidly, and also protects against 
the operation of frost, which soon gets through 
the sides of a pot, and damages that part of 
a root that most easily takes harm — the points 
of the roots which come next the pot. They 
are to be plunged where the frame c^- be 
placed over them, and must be protected the 
second winter, through the vicissitudes of 
frost and too much wet. They must be 
watered when the return of warm weather 
demands it ; and if it be an object to confine 
them to the sized pot they are in, they must be 
taken up, and the protruding roots cut off ; and 
when plunged for the third winter, they must 
have more air, and be inured a little to the 
