28 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Jan. 



Reviews. 



THE TREES OF AMERICA ; Native and Foreign, Pic- 

 torially and Boianically delineated, and scientifically and 

 popularly described. By D. J. Bkow.nk, Author of the 

 " Sylva Americana." 



In new, densely wooded countries, trees are 

 divested of that interest and importance that 

 are always attached to them elsewhere. The 

 settler in the. forest is generally apt to regard 

 trees as obstacles in the way, and his first labors 

 are hewing them down, with an unsparing and 

 indiscriminating hand. He has no ideas to 

 ■waste upon the fuuire, when trees would become 

 almost a< essesctial io his comfort as his house is 

 now. The thing is to get rid of them, as soon 

 as possible, and so his axe is plied diligently, till 

 the last tree is felled. By-and-bye, when his 

 fields are cultivali;d and the whole country clear- 

 ed off, with only here and there a single tree 

 left, as if by accident, to remind us of the past, 

 he begins to think of the noble Oaks, Pines, 

 Elms, Maples, Beeches, Chestnuts and Lindens, 

 that he hewed down and cannot bring back. — 

 «'0h!" he will exclaim, "What a treasure 

 they would be to me now ! Those noble fel- 

 lows that stood there and braved the storms of 

 centuries." Yes! indeed they would be a trea- 

 sure, and to the real lover of nature in its no- 

 blest forms, almost unpurchasable. 



This subject brings to our mind the beauty 

 and grandeur of the broad fields and meadows cf 

 the Wads WORTHS, in the Genesee Valley. Al- 

 most every field looks like an English, Park. — 

 Beautiful groups and single trees* are intersper- 

 sed so naturally around, that one would fancy 

 the whole estate to have been under the manage- 

 ment of a skilful landscape gardener for the last 

 fifty years. Such an instance as this furnishes 

 a beautiful and striking illustration of the influ- 

 ence of taste and foresigiit on the clearing of 

 wooded land. We wish that every settler would 

 carry such a taste with him to his new home in 

 the forest. He would earn the blessings of his 

 family who would succeed him, and the thanks 

 of his country. Trees are the noblest and finest 

 features of a landscape. Where these are want- 

 ing, in a rural picture, it is necessarily barren 

 and desolate. 



The Trees of America like her other nation- 

 al features, are vast and diversified, without a 

 parallel. Only think of her possessing over 40 

 species of the Oak, and as many of the Pine, 

 both noble trees, contributing largely to the 

 commerce and comfort of man in all parts of the 

 world. Those two species ahme would form a 

 national treasure, to say nothing of her splendid 

 Magnolias, Elms, Maples, Walnuts, Sycamores, 

 Beeches, Chestnuts, Lindens, Tulip Trees, with 

 a multitude of others, numbering, we believe, 

 nearly 600 indigenous species. 



* Some of the Oaks and Elms on this estate, in the v-i 

 cinity of Geneseo, are the finest on the Continent. 



What American is there, or who that has his 

 home here but would be proud of a work on the 

 " Trees of America," worthy of so great a sub- 

 ject 1 Mr. Browne's work, we are very sorry 

 to say, is not. Our readers will remember that 

 we announced such a work as forth-coming near- 

 ly a year ago. We then hoped we should have 

 a splendid national work, that would be an honor 

 to the country. Mr. Browne has extracted, and 

 even condensed a great part of the information 

 he gives us in relation to our trees, from "Lou- 

 don's Arboretum," an English work, prepared 

 by a man who never had his foot on American 

 soil, but nevertheless the best book in the world, 

 on this subject, and likely to be for a long time 

 to come. 



One would hardly credit it until he has seen,, 

 that in such a work the whole families of Oaks 

 and Pines, and many others of the most valuable 

 and important trees, are passed over wholly un- 

 noticed, while such as the Camphor, Caroh trer, 

 Casscva, Mahogany, Paraqua Lea, and oth- 

 ers, natives of China and the Tropics, of compa- 

 ratively small practical importance to the people 

 of the United States, are lengthily described. — ■ 

 Remarks relating to culture are here and there 

 cnrelessly copied from European works, wiikout 

 comment or qualification, liab'e to mislead per- 

 sons in this country devoid of such information. 

 Whole pages, too, are unnecessarily occupied' 

 with descriptions of cultivated varieties of fruit, 

 such as the Cherry, Plum, &c. Other complete 

 works, devoted to this particular department, are 

 accessible to all who wish correct information of* 

 this kind. 



But notwithstanding it is not what we expect- 

 ed, and far from being what it should be, we are 

 glad to see it. It may contribute something to- 

 wards directing public attention to this great sub- 

 ject, and thereby lead to the improvement and 

 completion of a work which Mr. Browne has 

 commenced. He says : — "Should the public de- 

 mand an extension of the work, conformable to 

 the plan he has adopted, a supplementary volume 

 will follow, embracing most of the other trees 

 growing in America, with statements of the 

 sources from which the information will have- 

 been derived, copious indexes, &c." 



The classification is in the natural system; 

 the arrangement in this respect is plain and per- 

 fect. Small figures of many of the species are 

 given, showing the general appearance of the 

 trees, leaves, fiowecs, fruit, ti^c. The whole 

 work is mechanically well executed, and is valu- 

 able to every one who desires to cultivate an ac- 

 quaintance with the Trees of America. It may 

 be said in apology for the defects mentioned in 

 the work, that it involves a gigantic labor, and a 

 labor that but ^ew men in this country could or 

 would undertake. The book can be had of 

 S. Hamilton, at the State street Book-store, 

 Rochester. 



