BROWNE'S TREES OF AMERICA. 



183 



tic lover of nature ! How one's imagina- 

 tion revels in the thought of ancient forests, 

 which yet stand in North America, whose 

 beginning was before Columbus had even 

 projected his seemingly wild scheme of dis- 

 covering a new world. We have ourselves 

 stood beside two oaks, whose ages were 

 from eight hundred to a thousand years. 

 Douglass, the English botanist, speaks in 

 terms of rapture of the fir forests of Cali- 

 fornia — the magnificent Picea grandis and 

 nobilis — trees two hundred feet high, whose 

 trunks measure from twelve to forty feet in 

 girth. The latter species — the noble fir — 

 abounds in the mountains of Northern Cali- 

 fornia, where it covers vast tracts. " I 

 spent three weeks," says he,* " in a forest 

 composed of this magnificent tree, and day 

 by day I could not cease to admire it." Yes, 

 though our country is destitute of ruined 

 castles and old tottering strongholds, to 

 tread whose crumbling and time-worn pas- 

 sages carries the mind back in a moment 

 over so wide a space in the history of our 

 race, yet it is scarcely less thrilling to walk 

 beneath the shade of a centennial tree — a 

 real living, growing thing like ourselves, 

 which has stood firm in its place, while em- 

 pires have tottered and been swept away — 

 while an unknown world has been discov- 

 ered — and while a new nation has sprung 

 into existence, whose rapidly increasing 

 millions seem scarcely content with an en- 

 tire continent. 



Do our readers know how prodigal nature 

 has been to this continent in the matter of 

 forest trees ? The whole number of timber 

 trees indigenous to Great Britain, which 

 grow thirty feet high or more, is only twen- 

 ty-nine ; the whole number of the same 

 class, natives of France, only thirty-four: 

 while North America enumerates forty 



* Compamon to the Botanical Magazine. 



species of Oak alone, and thirty-nine sorts 

 of Pine. The total number of the species 

 of trees and shrubs indigenous to this coun- 

 try is about 530. What a forest wealth, 

 compared with that of Europe ! Magno- 

 lias — Rhododendrons — Kalmias — Tulip 

 Trees, and the like : how meagre would the 

 choicest parks and pleasure grounds of Eu- 

 rope appear, were they stripped of these, 

 their richest treasures of foliage, borrowed 

 from the American soil ! 



We welcome, therefore, this contribution 

 of Mr. Browne's to the gardening literature 

 of this country with pleasure, because we 

 consider the subject he has chosen one in 

 the highest degree interesting and impor- 

 tant to every man, whether he live in the 

 country or in town. If he is confined within 

 the narrow limits of a city, he cannot but 

 feel grateful for the patient and enduring 

 trees, that amid the dust and confined air, 

 by the side of streets, and in the midst of 

 small parks, still do not refuse to yield him 

 a cool shade : if he have the good fortune 

 to live in the country, he cannot fail to utter 

 many daily prayers of thanks for the ever 

 varying beauty and loveliness of trees. Not 

 to wish to know something of the character 

 and history of trees, is as incomprehensible 

 to us, as not to desire a knowledge of Nia- 

 gara, or the Alps themselves. 



Every thing that will help to diffuse 

 this information is well for our people. Mr. 

 Browne's volume will do it to a considera- 

 ble degree, because it is not a very dear 

 book, and it conveys a great deal of infor- 

 mation in a moderate compass. The sub- 

 ject is plainly and simply treated, and the 

 text is illustrated by many small, neat, and 

 characteristic engravings, showing the flow- 

 ers and fruit of almost every species. 



It must be premised, however, that this 

 is by no means a complete work on the 

 " Trees of America." Not one of the nu- 



