550 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OP THE LATE P. A. MIOHAUX. 



cxpccti-*! by l»is fallow members of the Soeiet)' of Accriciilturo, who appointed a 

 committee to report on tlie suecess of liis voyafrc. Correu de Scrra, chairman of 

 that committee, in a most (hvtterint;: report, hi<::lily complimented Michaux on the 

 faitiiful execution of his trust, aiul for the importance of the services he hud 

 rendered to his country, he called forth a vote of thanks. 



During the two years followinp^ his return, Michaux was actively em])loycd in 

 the publication of his great work, IHsfoire des Arbres Foresliers de VAjiivrique 

 (fit Xord, so anxiously expected by all who took an interest in the Flora of the 

 United States, and in the oI)servations of one so well versed in agricultural ])ur- 

 suits. The Orst volume appeared in 1810 ; the second in 1812 ; and the third in 

 1813. 



This magnificent work, illustrated by 144 copper plates, designed by the two 

 Redoute and by Bessa, and engraved l)y such eminent artists as Gabriel, Ixeimrd, 

 Boquet, Kessin, and Dubreuil, was translated into English Iiy Augustus L. Hill- 

 house, and published in Paris in four volumes by Charles D'Hautel (1817-1'.'). 

 under the title of North American Sijlva, with the addition of several jilates and 

 some new observations by the author. Mr. Wm. Maclure purchased the jdates 

 in Paris and brought them to this country. To this circumstance is owing the 

 publication of two American editions, which are now followed by a third. The 

 lirst was issued at New Harmony, Indiana, in 1842, and the second in this city in 

 1852, edited, with additions and notes, by J. Jay Smith, Esq. Mr. Nuttall, 

 soon after, published, on Michaux's plan, an additional Sylva Americana, de- 

 scribing and illustrating as many as one hundred and twenty trees, mostly un- 

 known to his predecessor, indigenous to the far west regions, Oregon and California 

 included. 



Of this splendid work of Michaux, the author of an article on the botany of 

 the United States, published in the 13th vol. of the North American lieview, 

 remarks: "It is the plan of Michaux's history of our forest trees to unite the 

 advantages of a work strictly botanical and one relating to the useful arts; but, 

 especially to collect all the scattered details which books or experience could 

 furnish him, with respect to the application of various kinds of wood to the pur- 

 poses of life. Botanical descriptions can easily be made or found ; but, in order 

 to ascertain their useful properties, it was necessary to consult artisans, in almost 

 every branch of practical mechanics, to frequent dock-yards or workshops in which 

 wood was employed, and, in short, to gather information from every attainable 

 source. From these inquiries Michaux had obtained a most extensive collection 

 of curious and important facts, which rather belonging to the application of botany 

 than to botany itself, are nevertheless essential to the complete knowledge of the 

 plants of the United States ; for, besides the commercial and practical uses of our 

 trees, we have a very perfect account of the inflorescence, fructification, growth 

 and botanical habit of them individually considered, as also many interesting 

 facts with regard to them taken together as composing forests." 



In a letter dated October, 1852, addressed to the President of the American 

 Philosophical Society, Michaux expresses himself in the following words, with 

 regard to his Sylva Americana: "The science of botany was the principal object 

 of my father's explorations in North America, and the Flora BoreaH- Americana 

 was the result of those explorations. As for me, I took another view of the 

 vegetable kingdom whilst in your country — a view more limited and less scientific, 

 it is true ; but, perhaps, more generally profitable to the farmer and landholder, 

 as well as to that class of society, so numerous in the Northern States of the 

 Union, who employ wood in so many different ways. I do not consider my Syh 

 icana as complete as it might be ; thus, for instance, I have omitted se 



