"there are only leaves at the very tips of the branches"

Is this what it looked like when you purchased it, or has it dropped many of its leaves?

"Should I prune the branches back to force more leafing out"

Eeeek, no! Removing some of the tree's ability to make food and causing it to have to spend energy to try to heal over wounds is not a good idea!

Tell us more about your tree. Did you plant it or did you have a nursery install it? Was/Is it covered by any type of warranty? Was it B&B or container grown? Do you know the details of how it was planted? Were soil amendments used? If B&B, was the burlap removed? If container grown, were potbound roots addressed? How is the planting depth? Can you see the rootflare at or above ground? What are the conditions like where the tree is planted (soil, moisture, light exposure)? Is the area around the tree mulched? Any chance of pictures?

Thanks for your reply--I will take a picture and post it ASAP. The tree was planted by professionals who added supplements, etc., when planting. It was a B&B w/ burlap being loosened, root stimulator and mulch was added. The soil on this farm is variable, but I suspect it has a great deal of clay and small rocks around tree areaw/ additional topsoil added. daphne35

Brandon: How do I post a picture for you on this site? daphne35

"planted by professionals"

I wonder if you have any recourse there, maybe?

Did the tree look like it does now after it was planted, or has it gradually gotten worse?

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"... added supplements, etc." & "root stimulator ... was added"

The root stimulator only helped the wallet of the guy who sold it to you. It's pretty much snake oil. But, what I really wondered is if the soil was amended (hopefully not). Different soil types present in backfill can cause drainage problems that negatively impact new plantings more than many people realize. It's almost always best to use only native soil when planting trees and shrubs.

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"It was a B&B w/ burlap being loosened..."

It's best if all burlap, wire, and string can be completely removed. Even some professionals don't always do that, but they should. It's often said that the burlap will rot and won't hurt if left on, but that's generally not the case. Leaving the burlap can be detrimental in multiple ways. The most immediate problem can occur as the burlap wicks moisture away from the rootball. If any of the burlap is exposed above ground level after planting, roots can be quickly dried out as moisture, in and around the rootball, is drawn out and allowed to evaporate from the burlap. Later problems depend partially on the material used to make the burlap. Non-biodegradable or treated material is sometimes used. In these cases the burlap may never break down or take many many years to break down. This can inhibit proper root growth and cause the tree to never develop a proper root system. If the more old-timey biodegradeable burlap is used, it may still take many years for it to break down. Even this material can have severe consequences in some cases. If very large rootballs make it impractical to remove all the burlap, at least cut and remove the burlap as far down as possible. Burlap along the very bottom of the rootball is unlikely to have as much consequence.

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"...I suspect it has a great deal of clay and small rocks around tree area..."

That's not necessarily bad. Many people think clay makes a poor soil, but it actually has it's advantages, and magnolias can do well in clay as long as there is sufficient drainage.

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"How do I post a picture for you on this site?"

One of the easiest ways to provide your photo to be embedded into a post is to upload it onto an image hosting site such as Photobucket, Flickr, etc. That should be pretty straight forward, and the individual sites will give instructions on how to get your photos uploaded to their site when you sign up.

Once your picture has been uploaded, find its web address by right clicking on the image and copying the image location. Some sites may even provide the address in a text box below the photo for your convenience.

Let's say, as an example, that the address of the picture you want to post is http://somepicturesite.com/yourpicture.jpg

To embed the picture into a post, use the command:
img src="http://somepicturesite.com/yourpicture.jpg">;

If your picture is too large to fit nicely into the text page, you can add a width attribute. The command with the width attribute would looks something like:
img src="http://somepicturesite.com/yourpicture.jpg"; width=600>

Note that I had to use special characters to get the commands above to show up here without turning into pictures, but you can use them as shown (with the correct image web address, of course).