186 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. 



The spirit with which he entered into his work is shown by 

 the following paragraph from tho '' Flora Americce Septen- 

 trionalis " : 



" Among the numerous useful and interesting objects of natural 

 history discovered in the vast extent of the new continent none 

 claim our attention in a higher degree than the vegetable pro- 

 ductions of North America. Her forests produce an endless 

 variety of useful and stately timber trees, her woods and hedges 

 the most ornamental flowering shrubs, so much admired in our 

 pleasure grounds, and her fields and meadows exceedingly 

 handsome and singular flowers different from those of other 

 countries. All these are more or less capable of being adapted 

 to a European climate, and the greater part of easy cultivation 

 and quick growth ; which circumstances have given them, with 

 much propriety, the first rank in ornamental gardening. 



" A country so highly abundant in all the objects of my favorite 

 pursuits, excited in me, at an early period of life, a strong desire 

 to visit it, and to observe in their natural soil and climate the 

 plants which I then knew, and to make such discoveries as cir- 

 cumstances might throw in my wa}'. This plan I carried into 

 execution in the year 1799, when I left Dresden, the place where 

 I had received my education, and embarked for Baltimore in 

 Maryland, with a determination not to return to Europe until I 

 should have examined that country to the utmost extent of my 

 means and abilities. In 1811, after an absence of nearly twelve 

 years, I returned to Europe with an ample stock of materials 

 towards a Flora of North America, an attempt at which I now 

 venture to lay before the public, with a flattering hope that a 

 generous allowance will be made for its unavoidable imperfections, 

 when the extent of the undertaking is considerd ; and that it 

 will be accepted, as it really is intended, as only the ground work 

 of some future more perfect work upon the subject." 



In this introduction he giv6s an account of his travels, which 

 shows the immense amount of pains taken to gather correct in- 

 formation. On his arrival he made the acquaintance of several 

 botanists whose observations were of i>reat assistance to him. 

 In the beginning of 1805 he set out for the mountains and 

 western territories of the Southern States, beginning at Maryland 

 and extending to the Carolinas (in which tract the interesting 

 and high mountains of Virginia and Carolina took his particular 

 attention), and returning late in autumn through the lower 



