368 
DECIDUOUS TREES. 
such evergreens as the pines and Norway spruce are best adapted; 
and they must have a deep, warm, moist soil, in which their roots 
can revel below the reach of the frost. Most of them need all the 
sun they can get on their tops, but their roots must be cool and 
shaded —a condition easily maintained by a well-kept lawn and 
their own shadows, if they are encouraged to grow low. 
The bark of all the magnolias is favorite food for rabbits. 
Where practicable the stems near the ground should be bound with 
lath at the beginning of winter, and then covered with matting or 
straw as high as possible. Of course the ground around the stems 
should also be thoroughly mulched a little further than the roots 
extend. 
The peculiar habits and needs of the different species will be 
noted in their descriptions, which follow: 
The Evergreen-Magnolia or Big Laurel. Magnolia gran - 
dijlora. (.Laurier tulipier or tulip laurel of the French.)—We begin 
with a description of this, the most tender of all the magnolias, be¬ 
cause its fame is world-wide, as the acknowledged and worthy head 
of a royal family. Michaux, in his great work, the Sylva Americana, 
published nearly fifty years ago by the French government, says of 
it: “Of all the trees of North America, east of the Mississippi, the 
big laurel is the most remarkable for the majesty of its form, the 
magnificence of its foliage, and the beauty of its flowers. It is first 
seen in the lower part of North Carolina, near the river Neuse, in 
latitude 35 0 ; proceeding from this point, it is found in the mari¬ 
time parts of the southern States, * * * and as far up the 
Mississippi as Natchez, 300 miles above New Orleans. The 
French of Louisiana call it Laurier tulipier. It grows only in cool 
and shady places, where the soil, composed of brown mould, is 
loose, deep, and fertile.” 
Bartram (the great tree-hunter of the last century, whose superb 
collection south of Philadelphia, known as Bartram Garden, is now 
an illy cared-for wild-wood) speaks of it as forming “a perfect 
cone, placed on a straight clean trunk, resembling a beautiful col¬ 
umn ; and, from its dark-green foliage, silvered over with milk- 
white flowers, it is seen at a great distance.” 
