American Forest Trees. 91 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES. 



BY D. W. RAY. 



A GLANCE at the Forest Trees of America may not be uninteresting to 

 the readers of the Horticultural Meview. America undoubtedly produces 

 the most lofty and truly magnificent trees of any portion of the globe. 

 American forest scenery strikes the European visitor upon his arrival in 

 this country with wonder, to see the vast extent of territory covered with 

 natural forests, untouched by the hand of man, in their primeval wild- 

 ness and solitude. The European is familiar with only such forests as 

 are artificial in the main, or at best, only those kept as parks by the 

 wealthy few. Our forests excel in variety and extent. The writer, in 

 conversation a few years since with G. P. R. James, the celebrated Eng- 

 lish novelist, heard an eulogy passed upon American forests which he 

 will not soon forget. He (James) said the average growth of European 

 trees was 30 feet in height, while our forest trees average over 40 feet, 

 and often grow 100 to 250. We have 70 varieties which attain the al- 

 titude of GO to 100 feet. A comparison of American and French trees 

 shows that there are in France only 37 varieties which attain a height 

 of over 30 feet. Prior to the settlement of this country, at Jamestown, 

 Va., the whole Atlantic coast, from the St. Lawrence to Florida, was an 

 almost unbroken wilderness, extending back to the Mississippi, presenting 

 the most extensive forests in the world. This portion of the globe seems 

 to have been peculiarly designed by Providence to produce not only all 

 kinds of fore;^ trees, but fruits and liowers in the same abundance. Our 

 American woods comprise over 140 species of trees, more than half of 

 which rise to an elevation of 60 feet. Among those most distinguished 

 are the American Cyprus (Cupressus Distichum); the Walnuts or Hick- 

 ories [Iiiglans Regia); the Tulip tree [TuUpifera Leriodendron); the 

 Locust [Rohinia); numerous and magnificent Pines, Oaks, Ashes, the 

 Coflfee tree [Gymnoclades Canadmsis); Magnolia, Sycamore or Plane 

 tree. Loblolly Boy [Gardenia)^ and innumerable other remarkable kinds. 

 Only in the United States the most magnificent and the more useful and 

 valuable forest trees are presented. The North American Flora here in- 

 deed affords her most elegant features, and an infinite variety of valuable 

 shrubs and trees. 



The first of the American forest trees which we shall notice specially 



