The acuminata, or "cucumber tree," is as hardy as your fruit tree. The purpurea or Chinese purple, we think will also stand your climate.

Magnolias #1

F. T, (Maine.) The only Magnolia known to be hardy in Maine, is the Cucumber Tree, M. sccuminata, But as M. conspicua, and Ms. touletngiana, have borne 20° below zero, on the Hudson, without injury to any ©art except the flower buds, you might make trial of these beautiful Chinese varieties with confidence. Tulips kept out of the ground all winter, will be worth very little in the spring.

The Magnolia #2

The hardy species of Magnolia are among the handsomest ornaments which can be introduced into our lawns. Their infrequency in such localities, and the sickly aspect they too often present when under the hand of cultivation, have led to the belief that their propagation and management are attended with great difficulty.

This difficulty is, however, rather apparent than real, or, at feast, is of sufficient magnitude merely to induce the cultivator to place a correct estimate cm the value of articles which have required extra care. As much intrinsic beauty is perhaps possessed by the Bouncing Bet (Saponaria) and the Calystegia pubescens, as by the Alstromerias; yet the two former, infesting our grounds aa noxious weeds, are considered as troublesome intruders, while the latter, requiring the skill of an experienced gardener, are valued accordingly. Vegetation springing up spontaneously, flourishing by our neglect, will always be viewed as common, and unworthy of admiration.

The locality in which our experience with the Magnolia has been gained, is fully exposed to the North, and the influences of Lake Erie, between the 41° and 42° of north latitude. Our observations have been made upon the following species and varieties, "to wit:" acuminata, glauca, tripetela, purpurea, Soulangeana, Thompsonii, and conspicua. All of these endure our climate as well as the oak, and several of them, under my mode of propagating them, are attaining the size and form of trees, though the natural tendency of the climate is to dwarf them. Even the Soulangeana, which, Mr. Meehan says, can be hardly ranked as a tree, has reached the height of fourteen feet (inclusive of four feet of the stock) in the course of twelve years. To the foregoing list, we might probably have added the macrophylla, auriculata, and cordata, had we been able to obtain them, and submit them to a course of trial.

The secret of our success consists mainly in propagating them on a hardy and vigorous stock, which will supply them with a greater amount of nutrition than most of the above species can derive from their native roots. In this vicinity, the acuminata is indigenous, and is distinguished by its vigorous habits and tenacity of life. It furnishes all the essential requisites for a stock on which to propagate the other kinds. This stock imparts both vigor and hardiness to the grafts, to an extent which, in some instances, converts them from a sickly and dwarf shrub to a middle-sized, vigorous, and durable tree. This has been illustrated very satisfactorily in my grounds, by the M. glauca. In near contiguity stand two of this species; one, on its own roots - the other, on the acuminate stock. The first was produced from seeds sown in the autumn of the year 1842; the latter was cut from the first, and engrafted upon a stock of the acuminata, in the spring of 1846 or 1847. A careful measurement at this date (January 1,1857), shows the height of the seedling to be six feet and six inches, and the circumference of its body six and one-half inches, while its engrafted progeny is fourteen feet high, and the circumference of its body is nineteen inches.

The former seemed to attain its full development several years since, and, of late, expends its powers in sending off lateral branches and suckers. At best, it is only a weak, ill-shapen, and diminutive shrub; its foliage, during summer, small and shallow, and its blossoms sparse and imperfect. The latter is still a thrifty tree, annually extending a round and well-formed top, with its foliage large and rich-colored, and its succession of flowers for several weeks numbering by hundreds every season.

The purpurea and Thompsonii are as much improved by the aid of the acuminata stock.

The tripetela grows thriftily, for a few years, on its own roots, and then inclines to'die down to the ground. We have recently engrafted it upon the acuminata, where it seems to flourish and give promise of durability.

Our plants of the conspicua and Soulangeana, on their own roots, died some years since, but not until we had secured both kinds by engrafting. Their premature deaths preclude our making a comparison between them and their engrafted progeny.

Of the latter, we have some fine specimens. One of our conspicua presents a very uniform, round head, fourteen feet high. Its body girths, twenty-one inches. The graft was inserted in the year 1846. All of my trees of the conspicua and Soulangeana, promise an abundant bloom the ensuing spring, as every limb and spur are terminated with blossom buds. They never suffer injury from the cold of our winters; even the last winter did not affect them, and it is rarely the case that they are cut off by late vernal frosts. Two years since, a snow storm occurred after they had fully expanded, and of course impaired their beauty. Such an event is rare. The blasting impression of a cold and dry northeasterly wind, is more to be dreaded.

As their bloom appears before their leaves, and at a period when nature generally presents a wintry aspect, it is important to group them with evergreens.

At the time when their blossoms are fully opened, the heads of the trees appear, at a distance, as though they were invested in a mantle of pure white, and attract the attention of the public universally.