Old Time Gardens 
156 
The Magnolia has been planted in northern 
gardens for over a century. Gardens on Long 
Island have many beautiful old specimens, doubt- 
less furnished by the Prince Nurseries. These 
seem thoroughly at home ; just as does the Locust 
brought from Virginia, a century ago, by one Cap- 
tain Sands of Sands Point, to please his Virginia 
bride with the presence of the trees of her girlhood's 
home. Th ese Locusts have spread over every rood 
of Long Island earth, and seem as much at home as 
Birch or Willow. The three Magnolia trees on 
Mr. Brown's lawn in Flatbush are as large as any I 
know in the North, and were exceptionally full 
of bloom this year, this photograph (shown facing 
page 148) being taken when they were past their 
prime. I saw children eagerly gathering the waxy 
petals which had fallen, and which show so plainly 
in the picture. But the flower is not common 
enough here for northern children to learn the varied 
attractions of the Magnolia. 
The flower lore of American children is nearly 
all of English derivation ; but children invent as 
well as copy. In the South the lavish growth of 
the Magnolia affords multiform playthings. The 
beautiful broad white petals give a snowy surface 
for the inditing of messages or valentines, which 
are written with a pin, when the letters turn dark 
brown. The stamens of the flower — waxlike with 
red tips — make mock illuminating matches. The 
leaves shape into wonderful drinking cups, and the 
scarlet seeds give a glowing necklace. 
The glories of a spring garden are not in the 
