FOREIGN NOTICES. 



331 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



Fredrika Bremer. — In a letter which we have 

 had the pleasure of receiving very lately from 

 this distinguished Swedish authoress, she speaks 

 of America and of Arsta, her own country home, 

 near Stockholm, in such interesting terms, that 

 we venture to print an extract containing these 

 passages, for the gratification of our many readers, 

 who, we know, are warm admirers of her remark- 

 able genius. — Ed. 



" Indeed the kindness manifested from your 

 country to the far-o£f stranger, fills me with a most 

 delicious feeling of joy and gratitude. And these 

 endearing hands, stretched over the great ocean, 

 in good will and benevolence, how eloquently do 

 they bear testimony to the coming of that spirit 

 which bids space and time vanish, that its work of 

 love and union may be accomplished throughout 

 the world. I sincerely hope to be so happy as to 

 say this personally to you. 



<'It has long been the wish of my heart to visit 

 America, and to see with my own eyes that new 

 up-rising world. Indeed there is no other foreign 

 land that I wish to know out of Nortli America, 

 and that especially for the peculiar turn of mind of 

 its people, in public as in private life, in the state, 

 the home, in society and in nature. 



"In many of these spheres, methinks I see the 

 idea — the sum of intellectual life — clearing up, ma- 

 king its way to earthly reality, and transforming 

 chaos into harmony and beauty. A specimen 

 thereof, is even your Landscape Gardening, on the 

 subject it embraces. 



" We very much need such a book in Sweden, to 

 help some of us to plant and build, and others to 

 open our eyes with some understanding to the ob- 

 jects that surround them — at least to be a little less 

 drowsy. 



" Allow me now to ask, have you no intention of 

 coming to Sweden, to see our romantic land, its 

 cottages and old mansions ? Thei e is one of the 

 latter which would gladly open its doors to wel- 

 come you. It is on the coast of tlie Atlantic, three 

 Swedish miles from Stockholm. Its name is Arsta. 

 And happy should one of its inmates be, there to 

 make you " Ics honneurs'' of her native land, and, 

 let me whisper it — to have your counsels about a 

 most unlucky and inis-slriving plantation, in no 

 style at all, which she has there undertaken. Al- 

 low her, my dear sir, here to entreat you to pay a 

 thought or two to this, and to hope a joyful re- 

 sult! In the mean time, she subscribes herself, 

 Your obligeil and thankful 



Fredrika Bremer, 



" Arsta, the 23d October, 1846." 



Death of M. Soulange-Bodin We record 



with regret the death of this most distinguished 

 (J^rench horticulturist, perhaps better known in 

 this country than any other except M. Vilmorin. 



M. SouLANGE-BoDiN has for a long time been 

 one of the most zealous friends of Gardening in 



Europe. His fine gardenesque residence ?it Fro- 

 mont, was some years ago the point from whence 

 was disseminated more practical knowledge in the 

 arts of culture than any other in Europe. Fro- 

 mont was widely known, not only by its great col- 

 lection of plants, but by its excellent Institute for 

 the practical and theoretical education of garden- 

 ers, and by the admirable spirit of benevolence 

 and enthusiasm which entirely pervaded it. 



We enjoyed the honor of a correspondence with 

 M. SouLANGE-BoDiN, and prize very highly a 

 copy of the Annates de VInstitut Royale Horticole 

 de Fremont, in six vols., which he kindly sent us. 

 This work contains many admirable essays on hor- 

 ticulture, and is rendered especially valuable by 

 the course of lectures on horticulture which was 

 delivered at Fromont. 



The beautiful Magnolia Soulangiana, origina- 

 ted at Fromont, which is known to all amateurs 

 of trees in America, is to us an interesting memen- 

 to of the excellent and distinguished man it was 

 named to commemorate. 



M. LE Chevalier Soulange-Bodin, born in 

 1774, was a pupil at the college of Tours, and was 

 distinguished from his earliest youth, by a lively 

 and discerning imagination, and a great aptitude 

 for study. His parents designed him for the prac- 

 tice of medicine, but the events of his time in- 

 duced liim to enter upon a diplomatic career, and he 

 followed general Aubert Dubayct to Constanti- 

 nople, as ambassador's secretary. Although M. 

 BoDi!sr was then but twenty years of age, such was 

 the confidence placed in his talents and judgment, 

 that s«*eral important missions were confided to 

 him. In the days of the Empire, he was attaclied 

 to Prince Eugene, as chef de cabinet ,- he follow- 

 ed him in the campaigns of Italj-, Germany and 

 Russia, and received, as reward for his services, 

 the cross of the Legion of Honor, and the insignia 

 of the Iron Crown. 



During these expeditions, the contemplation of 

 nature under various aspects, anil the inspection of 

 a great number of the finest villas and gardens, 

 developed in him a ilccided taste for fine trees, for 

 plantations, and for the i)icturesque; and he already 

 began to accumulate and to plant in the park of 

 Fromont, choice specimens of plants and trees in 

 groups, masses, or separately, which now render 

 this park a most charming and delightful sjiot. 



At the downfall of the em])ire, M. Bodin re- 

 nounced all coimection with politics, and retired 

 to Fromont, which lie has continued to embellish 

 with new i)lants, and by the construction of nu- 

 merous hot-houses adapted to the cultivation of 

 plants from everj' climate. Within a short time, 

 Fromont has become a horticultural establishment 

 of the first order, and M. Soulange the most dis- 

 tinguishcil promoter of horticulture. The variety 

 of liis attainments, his talents and his amiability, 

 had gained for him many frientls. From the time 

 of its foundation in 1827, the Royal Horticultural 



