140 HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TREES. PART I. 
This last proprietor has planted in Normandy upwards of 60,000 of the Pinus 
Laricio; and, in the Forest of Fontainebleau, M. de Larminat has grafted 
10,000 Scotch pines with scions of this valuable tree; an example well 
worthy of imitation by the proprietors of newly planted pine woods in Britain. 
In the different botanic gardens in France, there are arboretums more or 
less extensive: the most complete is that of the Paris garden; but those of 
Metz, Strasburg, Montpelier, and Toulon are also good. In the latter there 
is a deciduous cypress which, in 35 years, has attained the height of 80 ft., 
with a trunk 9 ft. in circumference close to the ground. From all these gar- 
dens, and several others, we have had lists and dimensions of the trees, which 
will: be found under the different genera. 
Some of the nurseries have extensive collections: judging from their sale 
catalogues, those of Cels, Noisette, and Godefroy appear to be the best in 
Paris, or its neighbourhood; and those of Audibert of Tarascon, of the Bau- 
manns at Bolwyller, and of Jacquemet-Bonneford at Ammonoy, seem to be 
the most extensive in the provinces. The Bolwyller Nursery, situate near 
Mulhausen, in Alsace, was established by M. Joseph Baumann (who was 
formerly gardener to the late Grand-Duchess of Courland), in conjunction 
with his brother Augustine, about the end of the last century. The esta- 
blishment of M. Soulange-Bodin at Fromont, in the neighbourhood of Paris, 
is perhaps the most remarkable in France. It combines the most extensive 
system of propagation both of hardy and house plants, ligneous and herba- 
ceous, with an institution for the instruction of young men in the science and 
practice of horticulture. The nature of this establishment, and its extensive 
collections, will be found at length in the Annales de [ Institut de Fromont ; in 
the Encyclopedia of Gardening, edit. 1835; and in the Gardener’s Magazine, 
vol. ix. p. 141., and in’ vol. xi. 
The individuals who have exercised most influence on the introduction of 
foreign trees and shrubs into France appear to have been Du Hamel, André 
Michaux, and Du Mont de Courset. 
Henri-Louis Du Hamel du Monceau was born at Paris in 1700, and died 
in 1782. He was proprietor of several estates, besides that from which 
he takes his designation. He was appointed inspector of the French navy, 
and was a member of the Académie des Sciences, and a Fellow of the Royal 
and other Societies in Britain, as well as of several on the Continent. He 
was the author of a number of works on agriculture, forest trees, fruit trees 
vegetable physiology, and rural economy, and of the Elements of Naval Archi- 
tecture, all of which appeared between the years 1747 and 1768. His most 
important work is the Physique des Arbres, which contains much of what, in this 
country at least, has been attributed to subsequent discovery. We allude more 
particularly to the theory of the ascent of the sap by the wood, and its descent 
by the bark. Du Hamel is said to have been a man of great modesty, and 
to have devoted his life to agricultural pursuits, to the mechanical arts, and 
to his duties as a public officer. He left no child, and his estates went to his 
nephews. One of these, Fougeroux de Bondaroy, has published an interest- 
ing Mémoire sur les Pins, inserted in the Mémoires de ? Académie des Sciences. 
Vrigny, Du Hamel’s principal estate, now belongs to M. Charles de Fouge- 
roux, his grand-nephew, who not only takes the greatest care of the trees 
left to him by his grand-uncle, but plants extensively himself. Denainvilliers 
and Monceau now belong to M. de Denainvilliers, the grandson of the brother 
of Du Hamel du Monceau. There are on these two estates a number of very 
fine exotic trees, of which the present proprietors take the greatest care. The 
finest deciduous trees are those that were planted by Du Hamel in some marshy 
ground at Monceau ; and some of them have attained the height of 90 ft. 
André Michaux was born in the Park of Versailles, in 1746, and soon 
evinced a taste for agriculture and botany, which was fostered by his 
early patron, the court physician, M. Lemonnier. In 1777 he studied 
botany under Bernard de Jussieu, at Trianon; and in 1779 he was study- 
ing in the Jardin des Plantes. Soon after this he came to England, and 
