Our favorite family, the Magnolias, for the most part, will strike readily from cuttings, or may be increased by layering the branches, which is the plan most generally adopted with hardy species; the tender sorts are usually struck from cuttings. The best time for layering is the autumn, but it may be done at any time until February. The branches to be layered must be slit close below a leaf or joint, pegged down, and covered with soil in the usual manner; neither shorten the branches nor take off any of the leaves. By the next autumn they will make nice rooted plants, when their connexion may be severed, and the plants potted and plunged in the soil, which is necessary to preserve their sensitive young roots from the frosts of approaching winter; it is also as well to shelter them in severe weather with mats over hoops, particularly while young, as they are tender until they become established and have plenty of good roots. To obtain a stock of any of the hardy kinds the best way is to plant a shrubby specimen in a sheltered corner of the garden, with room all round it, and to bend down and layer every branch that is of sufficient length to reach the soil, and there will always be a succession of shoots to lay down, as fast as the others are taken off.

The Chinese sorts, and indeed most of the Asiatic ones, do well when inarched, budded, or grafted on purpurea. Inarching is the quickest way of making a large plant at once, although the quantity of wood made use of for inarching would make several grafts, or furnish many buds, so that size is the only advantage gained, and this only for a time. Where a good duplicate specimen is required, instead of stock, this is not of much consequence however. The method of inarching is known to every one who has the least pretensions to be considered a gardener, but for the instruction of such of your readers as may not be sufficiently acquainted with the modus operandi, I will explain the way in which this can be performed most successfully. In the first place we obtain a good strong stock of purpurea of the desired height, and place it near enough the plant that is to furnish the branch to be inarched, which should be such as can be spared without injury and likely to form a nice plant. The two should be tied so that neither may suffer any disturbance.

One side of the branch must then be pared flat for a length of about three inches, and the stock also pared to correspond, so that, when fitted together, the bark of each may be in close contact and unite, which in due course they will do after being firmly bound together. If the stock and branch are of different sizes there may be some little difficulty in fitting the one to the other, in which case it is not very material to make both sides fit, provided the bark of each is in contact on one side. The season when inarching should be performed is just before the plants begin to make their growth, when the subsequent flow of sap will ensure a ready union of the two parts.

All the North American Magnolias may be raised from seed, sown in pots or pans rather widely, covered about half an inch deep with soil, and placed in a warm frame. When the young plants are of sufficient size, pot them off and return them to the frame to establish them, after which they may be placed in a cold pit. In this state they are very susceptible of harm, from cold winds particularly; let the pit be shut up at night as winter draws near, but give them as much air as they can have with safety. They will require repotting as they progress, and when in thirty-two's they may as well be sunk into the soil of the pit; this will be a great security against injury, either from the roots becoming too dry or being injured by frost. B.