142 HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TREES. PART T. 



sidercd the native country of a tree to be tliat in whicii it is most numerous, 

 and where it ac(|uircs the greatest height and thickness. Thus he fixed on 

 Kentucky as tlie native country of" tiie tulip tree, because it there forms vast 

 forests, lias a trunk commonly 7 ft. or 8 ft. in diameter, and grows 120 ft. 

 high, thriving in a moist clayey soil, but not in one that is frequently inundated. 

 In higher or lower ground, or in a different soil, these trees become smaller 

 and more rare. It was with a view to trace in this manner the botanical 

 topography of North America, that IMichaux visited the Floridas, and went 

 as far as Hudson's Bay. lie left Charieston in April, 1792; arriveil at 

 Quebec in June of the same year; and reached Tadoussac, lat. 5d", in October, 

 IGO leagues from any human habitation. He afterwards planned a journev to 

 Mexico, for the benefit of the United States ; but, after very many journeys, he 

 returned to Paris by Amsterdam, where he arrived on the 3d of December 

 179G, after ten years' absence. He found his friends well, but was grieved be- 

 yond measure to learn that the bcautifid plantations of Rambouillet, to which 

 he had sent G0,000 young trees, had been destroyed during the revolution, 

 and that but a very small number of the trees was remaining. Seeing that 

 tranquillity was restored, he instantly thought of repairing the loss. After 

 unsuccessfully endeavouring to get sent again to America, he was sent to New 

 Ilolland. He stopped at the Isle of France, and was very desirous of going 

 to Madagascar; in which island he was attacked by the fever, and he died 

 there in November (an ix.), 180.3; aged 57 years. 



Miciiaux not only sent many new trees and shrubs into France, but he sent 

 great quantities of the seeds of the more useful species ; such as ./uglans 

 ruccaii, used for making furniture, and which protluccs the nut oil ; Tax- 

 6dium distichum (the deciduous cypress), suitable for planting in very moist 

 soil ; Nyssa caroliniana, useiul for the naves of wheels; C2uorcus tinctoria, for 

 tanning and dying; ami Q. virens, which, he says, grows rapidly on the sandy 

 beach, exposed to the stormy winds of the ocean, where scarcely any other 

 tree can exist, and the wood of which is excellent for ship-building ; to these 

 may be added the caryas of Pennsylvania, the tulip trees, and the American 

 ashes, maples, &:c., which, in many parts of France, are jjreferable to the indi- 

 genous trees. The administration of the Museum, aware of the services ren- 

 dered to natural history by iNIichaux, ordered his bust to be placed on the 

 facade of the green-houses, along with those of Commcrson, Donibey, and 

 other travellers who had enriched their collection. 



Michaux was too fully occupied in travelling to have much leisure to write; 

 nevertheless, he is the author of llislnirc (Ics Cltencs dc rAmerifjue Scpten- 

 trionalc, published in 1804; a North American Flora; ami a Mctuoir on the 

 Date Palm. The particulars of his life, at great length, and proportionately 

 interesting, will be found in the AnmiUs da ]\Iuseum, torn. 'in. ^. 191.; from 

 which this notice of his life has been abridged. 



F. A. Michaux, the author of Jli.stoirc des Arbres dc rAmcriqite, after his 

 father's death, was sent to Charleston, by the French government, to bring 

 over the trees collected in his father's nurseries, and supplies of seeds. During 

 his stay in America, M. Vilmorin informs us that he sent to the Administra- 

 tion Forcsticre larger quantities of acorns and other seeds of foreign trees, than 

 had ever before been sent over from that country. He took that opportunity 

 of visiting Kentucky, the Tencssee, and of penetrating nearly a thousand miles 

 beyond the Alleghany Mountains. On his return to Europe, he pui)li,shed his 

 great work on the trees of North America, and other memoirs on relative 

 subjects; particularly one Sur la Naturalisation de.i Arbres Foreslicres de 

 rAmcri(juc, Sec. He now resiiles in the neighbourhood of Paris, and appears 

 to be as enthusiastically devoted to the study of trees and shrubs as his late 

 father. We arc much indebted to him for various useful communications 

 having reference to the Arboretum liritannicnm, 



Georges Marie Louis l)n Mont, Baron de Courset, author of the Bntanistc 

 Cnltiiateur, was tlie Du llamel of his time; and, after the revolution, his 

 example and exertions contributed, even more than the influence of the Em- 



