lines; and the recesses or bays, A A, would grow up in weeds, or require constant care; the projections would be shaved by the carriages, and continually encroached upon. Fig. 18 is, however, by no means as bad as evil ingenuity could make it; but it is wrong in principle, and no landscapegardener would lay it out so.

A practice which should decidedly never be allowed is for two bays or two projections on the same side to be seen at once: it is the worst possible fault a road can have. Use curves, as many as may be desired, but no serpent-like twistings. The following figures will explain more clearly.

In Fig. 19, we have an easy curve; and, by looking at the dotted lines, it will be seen that the view is confined to one bay and one projection. In Fig. 20, on the contrary, two indentations and two projections are visible,

the effect of which would be very bad. A horse would draw a carriage so as to shave the projections, and avoid the indentations; and the track of the wheels would soon show the faults of the design.

Most landscape-gardeners insist that the road should be carried on the natural surface of the land. Unless, however, the ground be very easy in its slopes, there seems no valid objection to a moderate amount of cutting and filling. The main thing to avoid is the formality of a railroad; but,

as a road is manifestly an artificial work, why should it not be as perfect as skill can make it? The first object of a road is to carry wheeled vehicles ; and any thing in reason which facilitates this object would seem to be allowable.

The difficulty of making a satisfactory cutting is greatest in comparatively level ground which happens to be repeatedly crossed by hillocks, recalling in miniature to the traveller the rolling prairie of the West.

Fig. 21 is, of course, an exaggeration; but it will serve to illustrate the bad effects of the concealment of any low portion of the road by any high

B

Fig. 21.

portion without a bend in the road. The spectator at A sees the carriage c in a proper position; but when c retires down the slope, and is partially lost at B, the effect will be rather grotesque, and will not be improved by the gradual emerging of c towards the crest of hill.

Where there are means of laying out the road on curves, the inequalities of the ground can be got over with comparative ease, and a cutting may also be much bolder.

As to the width of roads, every thing depends on the size of the place: but, as no entrance-road need be wider than enough to let two carriages pass, fourteen feet is sufficient for the largest place; and, as the width of the road pre-eminently gives scale, it should never be made in a small place more than nine, or at most ten feet,―enough for one carriage to drive handsomely. It is thus kept in order by the traffic, and the weeds kept down; which will not be the case where the road is double the width of the travel. If two carriages meet, it is easy enough to take the grass with one wheel for a few yards; and, even if the turf should be injured, it is cheaper to repair it now and then than to keep down the weeds in a fourteen-feet road permanently. The refuse lime from gas-works is excellent for killing weeds; but it must be used with care, as it will kill any thing it comes near, and it spreads its influence laterally farther than is generally supposed.

If the place is old and well wooded, the road may pass through a piece of wood. An entrance, however, should be as cheerful as possible, which a long grove can never be; though, by passing through trees occasionally, great variety is given, and the pleasure of the drive increased. Of course, there is no objection to an avenue of any kind, because that supposes the trees to be at a good distance apart, and not too close to the road. Besides, an avenue consisting of two or more rows of trees is by no means a track cut through a forest. What should be avoided is a road running into a wood composed of thick foliage, where a sufficient number of trees are not removed to allow the sky to be seen in almost all parts. A pair of trees here and there, with the road going between them, will be very good; even three or five trees can be thus managed with advantage: but there should not be enough to make the road dark.

A growing custom is to make avenues by clumps of several trees, sometimes as many as seven or nine, disposed in groups at about seventy yards apart. Of course, in time, most of the trees must be thinned out, that is to say, entirely removed, to allow those remaining to expand into their proper proportions.

When trees become large, and touch each other, they exercise a most prejudicial effect by cutting the branches of their neighbors when swaying with the wind. This is reciprocal, and two trees are injured in every such case. Avenues should not be designed to bear towards a dip in the land, unless there is an elevation beyond capable of bearing an object or forming a vista. Adapted from "Garden Architecture and Landscape Gardening" by John Arthur Hughes.

THE MAGNOLIACEÆ.

(Concluded.)

My first successful at

11. M. PURPUREA (Purple-flowering Magnolia). —Japan is the native country of this unique and dwarf species. When first introduced here, it was considered and treated as a half-hardy shrub. Experience has shown it capable of standing the coldest of our winters. tempt at growing it on the cucumber-tree was made last season. It took both by side-grafting and budding early in May. If it can be grown into a tree as large as the glauca by this plan, it will form a splendid ornament. Time only seems wanting to develop it.

The period of blooming continues through summer, and even into autumn, when suitable rains are furnished. A few seeds are matured every season. As this is the only species with red or purple flowers, it will doubtless be employed to impart colors in crossing and hybridizing.

That given points can be reached in breeding fruits and flowers, the experiments of Mr. Knight and certain other pomologists and florists have decided. The principles governing the results are known. The art of manipulating in the best manner is not, in all instances, as well understood. Mystery is, perhaps, intentionally thrown around it by experts. That it is successfully and extensively practised, is evident from the number of new and improved varieties of fruits and flowers annually introduced to the public. A few may be the result of accident or empirical effort. The larger numbers are the products of well-regulated art.

An editor of a horticultural journal could confer no greater benefit on his patrons than to instruct them in the details of that art; and our intelligent young people could engage in no more interesting and healthful amusement than in carrying those details into practice.

12. M. GRACILIS. Slight differences distinguish this variety from its parent, the purpurea, but sufficient, perhaps, to entitle it to cultivation.

Of the twelve species and varieties described, all, the auriculata excepted, are now growing near the lake shore, and fully exposed to the lake influences, five miles west of the city of Cleveland, O. Their

flourishing condition bears evidence, that, under suitable management, they are capable of resisting the vicissitudes of this northern climate.

A few other kinds are named in the catalogues of nursery-men, and their merits remain to be tested. An intelligent native of Burmah, a student of medicine and divinity, now here, informs me that a small and handsome species of magnolia grows in his country. It perhaps is the purpurea.

(b.) LIRIODENDRON.

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I. L. TULIPIFERA (Poplar, White-wood, Tulip-tree). This is the only species included in the genus, and is familiarly known as one of the most stately and magnificent trees in the Western forests. The frequency with which it is here met prevents its merits for ornamental purposes being duly estimated.

Its habit is much improved by cultivation, when young, in open grounds. In such situations, it is an object of great beauty, especially while covered with its large yellow and glaucous-green flowers in the month of June. At this time, the nectaries of these flowers abound with honey of a superior quality, which entices the honey-bee to resort to them in great numbers, in preference to the many other flowers expanded at the same period.

Its large, rich green, and uniquely formed leaves are objects of special admiration. Each leaf has two lateral lobes near the base, and two at the apex, the latter abruptly truncate. The original tree, standing, of course, in the Garden of Eden, produced leaves, with the two latter designated lobes united into one, and terminating in an elongated spear-form point, till, on a time, Damsel Flora, in a sportive mood, plucked a leaf, folded together its sides upon the mid-rib, and then with her scissors abruptly cut off the spear-form leaf at its middle. Since that day, the impression of the mutilation has been entailed on all succeeding generations of its leaves. Such is tradition.

Seedlings frequently spring up in the forests and neglected fields, and they are more tolerant of removal than cucumber-trees of similar size. No tendency has been discovered in them to deviate in the least from the normal habits of the species; yet in Europe, where it has been under cultivation for near two hundred years, several varieties have been produced. Its close botanical affinities to the magnolia leads to the suggestions,