138 HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TREES.” PART I. 
acacias, deciduous cypresses, pines, and cedars. The dimensions of some of the 
trees planted by M. Jansen havebeen sent us by Mr. Blaikie, who now (1835) 
resides at Chaillot, in a house built in the midst of them: among them 
are, an A’cer O’palus, 50 ft. high, with a trunk 14 ft. in diameter; a Sophora 
japonica, 60 ft. high; and an J‘lex balearica, 30 ft. high. A great many trees 
were planted in the great park at Rambouillet, about 1705, chiefly in avenues, 
after a design made by Le Notre, who died a few years before. The majority 
of the trees are abeles, and they have attained the height of upwards of 100 ft., 
though many have fallen down from age. Between the years 1787 and 1789 
a great many American trees were planted in that part of the grounds at Ram- 
bouillet known as the Jardin Anglais, which have thriven well, and many of 
them have attained considerable size, as will appear from an account of them 
in the Gardener’s Magazine, vol. xi. p. 42. and p. 205. At Thury, the pro- 
perty of the learned Vicomte Héricart de Thury (see Annales d’ Hort. de Paris, 
tom. xi. p.298.); at Baleine, near Moulins, the estate of Madame Aglaé Adan- 
son, the daughter of the botanist Adanson, a descendant of Helvetius,; and 
herself the author of La Maison de Campagne ; at Nerac, on the estate of the 
Comte de Dijon; and at various other places; are collections of American 
trees and shrubs planted before the revolution, of which we have received 
notices from our correspondents, that will be found recorded, when we treat 
of the trees to which they refer. Near Metz, at Columbiére, there are some 
fine trees of the pine and fir tribe, and many American trees, which were 
planted about the middle of the 18th century, by the Baron Tschoudi, the 
father of the baron of that name who was the inventor of herbaceous graft- 
ing; and who, after having been many years in the army, has retired to 
Columbiére, and has there an extensive collection of trees and shrubs. 
At Mereville there are many fine American trees, which were planted by 
Mr. Blaikie, particularly the ailantus, which grows there to a large size, many 
specimens having attained the height of 80 ft.in 40 years. At St. Leu, the 
ailantus has also attained a similar height in the same time, with a trunk of 
32 ft. in diameter. One of the oldest magnolias in France is at Maillardiére, 
a property in the neighbourhood of Nantes. An account is given of this tree 
in the Nouveau Du Hamel, tom. ii. p. 220.; and we have also been favoured 
with its history, communicated by the proprietor, M. le Comte de la Bretesche, 
to M. Durand de Lancon of Coutance in Normandy, and sent to us by him ; 
and with a description of it by M. Nerriére, a nurseryman at Nantes. The 
particulars will be found under the head of Magnolia grandiflora: it will be 
sufficient to state here, that, after having sustained many injuries during the 
century that it has stood at Maillardiére, the tree is still in existence, and is 
now upwards of 30 ft. high. 
‘Historical notices and dimensions of many other large and old foreign 
trees have been sent us, and they will be found under the heads of their 
respective genera: but we may remark that there are few large and old trees in 
France comparatively with what there are in England; not only on account of 
the great changes which landed property has undergone in France, but because 
trees in that country are grown principally for timber and fuel, and have at no 
period been considered so much articles of luxury as they have been and are 
in England, which is supplied with timber for building from the Baltic, and 
with fuel from its coal mines. 
The knowledge which we in England possess respecting the culture of trees 
in France may be said to date from the publication of the Traité des Arbres 
et Arbustes, by Du Hamel, in 1755. Du Hamel was contemporary with 
Miller and Collinson of London, and was in general correspondence with 
British botanists, to whom, in common with botanists in other parts of the 
world, he, in the preface to his work, acknowledges his obligations. In the 
first and second editions (in 2 vols. 4to) of his Treatise, he describes 180 
genera and nearly 1000 species, without including those small under-shrubs, 
such as thyme, hyssop, &c., which technically are ligneous plants; and in the 
third edition, known as the Nouveau Du Hamel (in 7 vols. folio), which was 
