MAGNOLIA, (Encycl.) The glauca generally grows in a poor swampy soil, or on wet meadows. The English and Swedes in Pennsylvania and New Jersey call it beaver-tree, because the root of this tree is the dainty of beavers, which are caught by its means. It drops its leaves early in autumn, though some of the young trees kept them all the winter. This tree is seldom found to the north of Pennsylvania, where it begins to flower about the end of May. The scent of its blossoms is exquisite: for by it you can discover, within three quarters of an English mile, whether these little trees stand in the neighbourhood, provided
the wind be not against it; for the whole air is filled with this sweet and pleasant odour. It is beyond description agreeable to travel in the woods about that time, especially towards night. They retain their flowers for three weeks, and even longer, according to the quality of the soil on which the trees stand; and during the whole time of their being in blossom, they spread their odoriferous exhalations. The berries likewise look very fine when they are ripe; for they have a rich red colour, and hang in bunches on slender stalks. The cough and other pectoral diseases are cured by putting the berries into rum or brandy, of which a draught every morning may be taken: the virtues of this remedy were universally extolled, and even praised, for their salutary effects in consumptions. The bark being put into brandy, or boiled in any other liquor, is said not only to ease pectoral diseases, but likewise to be of some service against all internal pains and heat; and it was thought that a decoction of it could stop the dysentery. Persons who had caught cold boiled the branches of the beaver-tree in water, and drank it to their great relief. Kalm.