CANADIAN BOTANY. 55 



tific interest are recorded, but from them we gather the following, as bearing upon the 

 local flora. 



The red mulberry {Morus rubra, L.) is referred to as growing in the vicinity of Montreal 

 in 1749, where it had, probably, been introduced to cultivation.' He also remarks upon 

 the trade in ginseng, which, at that time, had reached most encouraging proportions, 

 though only a few years later this thriving commerce came to a sudden end, through the 

 too eager haste of the people to realise all they could. The inferiority of the native oaks, 

 as compared with the English timber, is commented upon. 



Kalm appears to have been much impressed with the striking resemblance of many 

 of our plants to those of the North European flora, since he remarks that, " about the 

 Lower St. Lawrence, the plants bear a striking similarity to those of Sweden, while many 

 water plants in Lake St. Peter are identical." " Plums, red currants, and other fruits, 

 introduced to Quebec from Europe, are spoken of as doing well, but the French grapes, 

 cultivated at Montreal, did not succeed. Melons are referred to as cultivated before the 

 advent of Europeans, but this appears to be an error, borrowed from some of the earlier 

 missionaries. We find also that the same mistake is repeated by JefFerys, who gives a 

 brief account of the trees and plants of Canada, apparently borrowed from Charlevoix.' 



The fruit of Kalm's efforts was secured to him, in very large measure, only indirectly. 

 His extensive collections went to Linnœus, of whose herbarium they formed a part, yet 

 distinguished from the collections of others by the initial K, prefixed to the name of each 

 specimen. 



The labors of Kalm gave so decided an impulse to Canadian botany ; his collections 

 formed so conspicuous a part of the material lapon which Linnœus based his descriptions 

 of American plants ; and as moreover, he was essentially the first botanist in the field, he 

 may justly be regarded as the father of Canadian botany. Nor could it have had a more 

 respectable origin than at the hands of the celebrated disciple of the great Linnœus. 



Following Kalm, after an interval of thirty-eight years, there appeared another bright 

 light in the development of Canadian botany. In the year 1785-8G, André Michaux visited 

 America on a mission similar to that of Kalm. He was a native of France, and had 

 studied under the celebrated botanist Bernard de Jussieu, from whom he gained a prestige 

 scarcely inferior to that enjoyed by Kalm. In further prosecuting preparations for his 

 contemplated journey, he visited England, Sixain and Persia, whence he returned to France 

 with very large collections of plants audseeds.^ From the French Government he received 

 a commission to visit the continent of America, and collect trees and seeds for shipment to 

 France; also to send such shrubs and plants as might serve to ornament the King's 

 gardens. It will thus be seen that the primary object of his mission was similar to that 

 which resulted in Kalm's voyage ; but Michaux appears to have attached a much wider 

 importance to his prospective work, and to have regarded it more from a scientific point of 

 view, since he had already conceived the idea that the distribution of the trees of America 

 should be studied, and that it would be possible to ascertain their original centres of dis- 



" Travels in North America, iii. 64. ^ Ibid., iii. 210. 



^ History of the French Dominion. Thos. JefTerys, London, 1760. 



* Voyage d'André Michaux en Canada, depuis le lac Champlain jusqu'à la Baie d'Hudson, par l'Abbé 

 Brunet. Journey of Michaux to Canada, Can. Nat. N. Ser., i. 325. Journey to the high Mountains of Carolina in 

 1788. Am. Jour. Sc, xxxii. 466. Flora Boreali-Americana, Paris, 1803. 



