The wood of cucumber resembles that of yellow poplar in appearance and in physical properties, except that it is ten per cent heavier than poplar. It usually passes for that wood at sawmill and factory. The Federal census credits it with less than a million feet a year as lumber. That is much too small. It is valuable and finds ready sale. Manufacturers of wooden pumps regard it as the best material for the bored logs. It is worked into interior finish for houses, flooring for cars, interior parts of furniture, woodenware, boxes and crates, slack cooperage, including veneer barrels. The tree is planted for ornament in the northern states and Europe. The chief value lies in its large, green leaves and symmetrical crown. The red fruit adds to the tree’s attractiveness late in summer. LARGELEAF UMBRELLA (_Magnolia macrophylla_) is valuable chiefly as a sort of ornamental curiosity, on account of its enormous leaves and flowers. The leaf is from twenty to thirty inches long and ten to twelve wide. It drops in autumn before its green color has undergone much change. The leaves lack toughness, and the wind whips them into strings long before the summer is ended. Thus what otherwise would be highly ornamental becomes somewhat unsightly. When well protected from wind by surrounding objects, the leaves fare better and last longer. The white, fragrant flowers are likewise remarkable on account of size. They are cup-shaped and some of them are almost a foot across. They pay a penalty no less severe than the leaves pay, on account of large size, and are liable to be thumped and bruised by swinging leaves and branches. The largeleaf umbrella is a tree of the southern Appalachian mountains although its range extends southwest to Louisiana, and northward from there to Arkansas. It is at its best in deep rich soil of sheltered valleys, occurring in isolated groups, but never in pure forests. It is known as large-leaved cucumber tree, great-leaved magnolia, large-leaved umbrella tree, and long-leaved magnolia. The fruit is nearly a sphere, from two to three inches in diameter, and bright rose color when fully ripe. The seeds are two-thirds of an inch long. The smooth, light gray bark is usually less than a quarter of an inch thick. Large trees are forty or fifty feet high and twenty inches in diameter. It is not considered valuable for lumber, because of scarcity and small size. The wood is considerably heavier than yellow poplar, and is hard but not strong; light brown in color with thick, light yellow sapwood. Reports do not show that the wood is put to any use. Planted trees are hardy as far north as Massachusetts, and success has attended the tree’s introduction in the parks and gardens of southern Europe.