T4 ESSAYS. 
from New York, across the mountains in Pennsylvania, to the 
Ohio, and carefully explored the States of Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee ; thence, recrossing the mountains in North Carolina to 
Charleston, he again embarked for France.’ Again returning 
in 1807, he journeyed along the whole extent of our Atlantic 
coast, and visited the principal ports to examine the timber 
employed in shipbuilding and in workshops of every descrip- 
tion; besides making separate excursions into the interior : 
‘“‘the first, along the rivers Kennebee and Sandy, passing 
through Hallowell, Norridgewock, and Farmington ; the sec- 
ond, from Boston to Lake Champlain; the third, from New 
York to the lakes Ontario and Erie; the fourth, from Phila- 
delphia to the borders of the rivers Monongahela, Alleghany, 
and Ohio; and the fifth, from Charleston to the sources of 
the Savannah and Oconee.” Having thus faithfully collected 
the requisite information, his great work upon our forest trees 
—the fruit of so much labor — was published at Paris in 
1810-138. 
But this work is not the only result of the well directed in- 
dustry and zeal of the elder and the younger Michaux. To 
these two persons, chiefly, are the French plantations indebted 
for their surpassingly rich collections of American trees and 
shrubs; which long since gave rise to the remark, as true at 
this day as it was twenty years ago, that an American must 
visit France to see the productions of his native forests. 
When shall it be said that the statement is no longer true? 
When shall we be able to point to a complete, or even a re- 
spectable, American collection of our indigenous trees and 
shrubs ? 
A few words will suffice for the second work on our list.” 
1 The observations made in this tour are recorded in his “ Voyages a 
V’Ouest de Monts Alléghanys,” 8vo, Paris, 1804 ; and in a “ Mémoire sur 
la Naturalisation des Arbres Foresti¢res de l’Amérique Septentrionale,” 
8vo, Paris, 1805. 
2 «The North American Sylva”; or a deseription of the forest trees 
of the United States, Canada, and Nova Scotia, not described in the work 
of F. Andrew Michaux, and containing all the forest trees discovered in 
the Rocky Mountains, the Territory of Oregon down to the shores of the 
Pacifie and into the confines of California, as well as in various parts of 
the United States ; illustrated by 122 fine plates. 
