224 



and published, two years afterwards, an interesting account of this 

 voyage. (" Voyage a Vouest des monts Allegheny.'''') He assisted 

 also in the publication of his father's works, " The History of the 

 American Oaks and Flora Boreali- Americana ; and in 1805, he 

 addressed to the Central Society of Agriculture of Paris, a memoir, 

 entitled " Sur la natural Izatioji des Arbres forestiers de VAmeriqve 

 du NordJ*^ In this memoir he endeavoured to prove the great ad- 

 vantage which might accrue to France from the acclimation of cer- 

 tain American trees, susceptible of being cultivated with advantage 

 in certain lands that produce nothing, or which could be a valuable 

 addition to the native trees of France. The means proposed by Mi- 

 chaux to attain this object was simply to send a naturalist to the United 

 States, in order to collect seeds and young trees, and forward them to 

 the national nurseries of Frnnce. 



Michaux, having been intrusted with this mission, under the pa- 

 tronage of the Duke de Gaete, embarked at Bordeaux on the fifth 

 of February, 1S06, in a vessel bound to Charleston. After three 

 days at sea, he was met by a British man of war, who took him to the 

 Bermuda Islands. While in port he was permitted freely to go ashore, 

 and had thus the opportunity to make some interesting observations, 

 which he communicated to the Professors of the Museum of Natural 

 History, in a memoir entitled " Notice sur les Isles Bermvdes,^^ &c. 



He was finally permitted to proceed on his voyage to the United 

 States, which he reached towards the end of May. Beginning his 

 explorations at the District of Maine, he travelled over the Atlantic 

 States as far as Georgia, a distance of 1800 miles, and made five dif- 

 ferent journeys into the interior of the country. His object was not 

 merely the science of botany; but the application of that science to 

 useful purposes. As the knowledge of which he was in need was 

 principally in the possession of artisans, he visited the principal dock- 

 yards, with the view of examining the timber employed in ship-build- 

 ing, and entered the different work-shops in which wood was em- 

 ployed in any way; he paid a particular attention to the trees that 

 formed the bulk of the forests, with reference to the nature of their 

 wood, or as objects of commerce; he ascertained the sources of the 

 difpjrent barks that are used in tanning, and formed a complete col- 

 lection of polished specimens of the species employed in cabinet- 

 work, &c. &c. The range of his observations was unlimited, and 

 could not fail to interest exceedingly the people of the United States, 

 as well as Europeans, and to become one of the main points of the 



