326 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Oct. 



In tlie following pages, wliicli I have prepared witli the aid of 

 the materials thus placed at my disposal, I shall give a list of the 

 most interesting plants found by our botanist in the various 

 localities visited during his Canadian journey ; while for the more 

 common species, I shall only notice the most northern points at 

 which they were observed. There will be found in these pages, 

 notices of more than one hundred and sixty plants observed by 

 Michaux in localities not mentioned in his Flora. These indica- 

 tions, it is to be hoped, will not be devoid of interest to collectors, 

 and to students of geographical botany ; while in addition will *be 

 found some interesting details from the journal of Michaux on the 

 characters of a portion of that almost unknown region which forms 

 the water-shed between the St. Lawrence and Hudson's Bay. 



Andre Michaux, the early years of whose life were devoted to 

 agriculture, soon conceived a plan for visiting foreign countries 

 with the object of studying their plants, and, if possible, intro- 

 ducing them into France. As a preparation for this, he came 

 to Paris in 1779, and studied botany for two years under Bernard 

 de Jussieu. After having in the pursuance of his plan visited 

 England, and crossed the Pyrenees into Spain, he visited Persia, 

 from whence he brought great collections of plants and seeds. 

 The French government, desirous of introducing into France some 

 of the trees of North America, then decided on sending Michaux 

 to this continent ; where his orders were to travel through the 

 United States, and collect both trees and seeds, which were to be 

 sent to France. In pursuance of this mission, he sailed on the 

 25th of August 1785, and reached New York the 1st of October, 

 accompanied by a gardener. Although his journey had for its 

 chief object the introduction of forest-trees, Michaux had received 

 orders to send also such shrubs and plants as might serve to orna- 

 ment the king's gardens. 



He at first made New York his head-quarters, from which he 

 visited New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, and he estab- 

 lished a nursery in New Jersey, with a view of raising young 

 trees which should be of better growth than those found in the 

 forests. In the year following, Michaux sent to Paris twelve boxes 

 of seeds, and several thousand young trees. After a time he 

 removed to Charleston, South Carolina, and there established a 

 second nursery, which soon obtained great dimensions from the 

 immense collections of trees and shrubs, the fruit of more than 

 sixty journeys in various parts of the interior. The manuscript 



