348 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MAY 10, iSit- 



(!■>(. ni the Nnrtli American Review.) 

 AMEKICAS FOKEST TREES. 



The subject of Aiiieiiciin Forcsi Trees is ono 

 wljicli Ims long Piicfdged thn attontion of e.nlight- 

 ptipfl EurojiKHii ii.iturallsts, and has more es|iec- 

 iaUy jrivpii rise to the spleiirlid "Sylva " of F'ran- 

 cis Andrew Sliehaiix. To this accom|dished and 

 libenvl-miiuled Freiichiiian tliis rountry certainly 

 owes a heav_<f debt of gratitude. If our people, 

 or our nilers, should become awakeiieil to a just 

 sense of the iiiunense, value of our forests, before 

 we feel it to our cost by their destructioti or se- 

 ]-iou3 diminution, it will be owing directly or in- 

 directly more to the publication of the " Sylva 

 .Americana," than to all other causes together. — 

 This work bar: been f lithfu'ly and elegantly trans- 

 lated by our accompli.shed countryman, .Augustus 

 L Hillhouse. Hut the style in which the hook is 

 printed, both in tlie original and the translation, 

 .and more especially t!:e number and beauty of its 

 colored plates, have rendered it of necessity very 

 e.Kpensive, and it consequently has found lint few 

 purclias(-rs ; a fact the moi'e to be regretted as it 

 was published at the cost of the author, who, we 

 are informeil by Mr Hillhouse, has executed this 

 work at a price ill becoming the mnilest fortune 

 of a man of letters. 



Its description may be fuund in a tiuich cliea|)- 

 er form in the valuable work, by onr fellow citi 

 zen, Daniel J. Browne, thi; title of which we have 

 placed at the head of this article. Fitr Browne's 

 is a very useful work, executed with great neat- 

 ness and in ty|ie easily read, and containing with- 

 in a very reasonable compass, much authenlic in- 

 forinati'in on a most interesling subjecl. Much 

 originality could not be expected, at the jiresent 

 day, ill any treatise on such topics ; but Mr Browne 

 certainly deserves great credit for the exiensive 

 researc-h and sound judgment with which he has 

 selected his materials from the best sources, and 

 the agreeabJe mamier in wLich be has di-jposed 

 them. 



Tlie work iiS diviiled into three pans. The first' 

 is a treatise on Dendrology, or the structure and 

 growth ol trees generally. 'l'!-ie portion of the 

 work is of a inon; scientific and ics jjopidar cast 

 than the rest, and may seem at tbe first view little 

 likely to interest the iuere general reader; It is^ 

 however, succinct and clear, and will well repay 

 an attentive per.usal. Thi; aiuitomy and physiol- 

 ogy of trees are gidijects which have been till late- 

 ly very imperfectly develojied, and which we fear 

 receive even now little aiienti.in from any class of 

 persons except professed botanists. To become 

 thoroughly verseil in these sciences, as in nio.st 

 others, woiilil require the labor of years, hut some 

 knovvled^ie of their leading general princi;des must 

 be deemed essential to any well-educated Ameri- 

 can, by all who reflect for a moment on the ex- 

 tent and importance of onr forests ; and we know 

 not where such knowledge could be more cheap, 

 ly and conveniently procured than from our au- 

 thor.— The i-.ext and longe.sj portion of the vol- 

 ume consists in descriplions of the difierent spe- 

 cies of the forest trees of this countr}', accojupan- 

 ied by neat and ilistim-t engravings, 'i hese des- 

 cri;.tions are taken principally, if not wijoily, from 

 the S'jtva of Miehaux ; lint .Mr Browne has cer- 

 tainly rendered an iniiioriant public service by 

 placing the valuable iuformUion, contained in that 

 rare anil splendid book, williin the reach of the 

 community g(Mierally. 



The work concludes with a treatise on the rear- 



ing and management of trees. 'Ibis part abounds 

 in minute and practical rlirections, which are for 

 the most part sanctioned, to the best of onr knowl- 

 edge, by the precepts and practice of the highest 

 authorities. In short, the volume is one of the 

 best horticultural publications which has issued 

 from the American press ; and we cannot but re- 

 gard its appear.Tnce, and that of other valuable 

 productions on the same tojiics, as highly season- 

 able at the present fieriod. 



If this country has been highly distinguished in 

 any respect by the bounty of irature, it is in the 

 nuiid)rr and variety of its trees. If we werecoin- 

 pelled to describe the territory of the U. States in 

 a few word.s, we could not do it more philosoph- 

 ically than in the language of Vfdney, who repre- 

 sents it as one vast forest, diversified by occasion- 

 al cultivated intervals. With the exception of 

 some of the prairies of the Valley of the Missis- 

 sippi, we are not aware that there is any consid- 

 erable section witliin our present States, which 

 was originally destitute of wood. Beyond the 

 immediate vicinity of our large towns, we find 

 every stream tliickly shaded by overhanging bran- 

 dies, and every mouniain, with the exception of 

 a few of the highest, covered with a leafy screen 

 of all varieties of shade, from its base to its sum- 

 mil. 



The progress of population and of improvement, 

 astonishing as it has been, has been insufficient to 

 i!lface to any degree this distinguishing feature of 

 .American scenery ; and the striking picture, ilrawn 

 by one of our own poets, of tbe native aspect of 

 th(! country, has not yet lost its general resem- 

 blance. 



"Then all this youtlifnl parailise aronnd, 

 And all the broad and boundless mainland lay 

 Cooled by the interminable wood, that frowned 

 O'er mount and vale, where never sunnner r;iy 

 Glanced, (ill the strong tornado broke its way, 

 Tiirougli the gr.ay gi;ints of il.e S3lvan wild ; 

 Yet many a sheltered gbide, with blossoms gay 

 Uenc'Uli the showering sky and sui shine mild, 

 Within l!iu shaggy arms of thut dark forest smiled-'' 



The exter;t of our woods is tiot more remarka- 

 ble, than the various kinds of trees which com- 

 pose them. It is slated by Miehaux, that in the 

 United Slates there are one humlred and foity 

 s|)ecies of forest trees, which attain to a greater 

 height than thirty feet, while in France there are 

 only eighreen of the same description. Of the 

 s<did advantages which we derive from this ahun- 

 ilaiit Variety, we shall say nothing ac present. It 

 needs only a cursory glance, to perceive how much 

 it enhances the beauty of our naiural scenery. — 

 " I was never tired," says an intelligent English 

 traveller, "of the forest scenery of America, al- 

 though I passed throug-h it from day to day. The 

 enilless diversity of foliage always prevents it from 

 being monotonous." '1 be variety of shape ami 

 tints in their green fiiliage is not, however, the 

 (diief distinction of onr woods over those of the 

 old world. They surpass them far iMore in the 

 rich and varied hues of their auluiunal leaves. — 



• bis, if not the most striking, is certaiidy the most 

 ujiique feature of an American landscape. What 

 natural scenery can surpass in beauty that ])re- 

 sented by one of our forests to our view, in one 

 of the brilliant and serene afternoons of our In- 

 <lian sunmier, when the trees are clothed svith a 



lajiestry of the richest gold and purple and scarlet ; 



resendding and almost rivalling the most gorge- 

 ous hues of our autumnal sunsets 1 



It is not the mere variety of coloring, which is 

 the peculiar characteristic of our fading leaves. — 

 This variety exists also in European woods, 

 though to a less extent ; for, as has been already 

 stated, their catalogue of forest trees is far more 

 scanty than ours. But their leaves, in divesting 

 theuiselves of their smnnier green, lay a^ide also 

 all their brilliancy, and assume a coejilexion pro- 

 verbially didl atid faded. It is a peculiarity, on 

 the contrary, of many of our forest trees, that 

 their leaves, in changing their hue, lose little or 

 nothing of their brightness, and that their auium- 

 ual dress is not only far richer, but scarcely less 

 lively, than their freshest June liveries. 



This circumstance is generally ascribed to some 

 peculiarity in our climate, and especially to the 

 manner in wiiich the cold weather makes its first 

 a[)proaches. But this manper varies almost ev- 

 ery year, and yet our trees exhibit annually the 

 same splendid changes. For this, as well as for 

 other reasons, we are inclined to think that the 

 peculiarity is not in the climate, but in the trees 

 themselves, and that if is one of those sliades of 

 difierence, which ilistiiiguish in almost every in- 

 stance the plants of America from their kindred 

 species in the old world. A transplanted Ameri- 

 can maple, for instance, would probably undergo 

 the same spler.did transmutations in an I'higlish 

 park as in its native fm-est. 'I'his sup[iosiiion has 

 been formed on much consideration, and is he- 

 sides sanctioned by iho opinion of an eniinent 

 English botanist, who has resided in this countrv 

 for several years. 



We have observed that scarcely any considera- 

 ble portion of this country is entirely devoid of 

 magnificent forest trees. But whatever sii iking 

 instances of the truth of this remark we may find 

 in New England, and ntore especially in Vermont 

 and Maine, it must be admitted that he who would 

 behold sylvan scenery on its most maiinificent 

 scale, should cross the .Allegliauies, and visit the 

 great Valley of the Mississippi. Here he will find 

 vast tracts, into which the axe of the woodman 

 has never penetrated. 7 hese are covered wiih a 

 coat of tbe richest vegetable mou'd, exceedihg in 

 many places the depth of our richest soils. We 

 find accordingly a luxuriance of vegetation, to 

 vvhicii rjnihing in our own Stnte affords a paral- 

 lel. It is true that with us there is here and there 

 a gigantic elm or bnttonwood, which might take 

 rank with the noblest specimens of western growth. 

 But in travelling Kentucky or Indiana, we find 

 trees at qvery ste|», of six or seven feet in diame- 

 ter ; so that most of our wood.s, compared as a 

 whole with theirs, seem to be but as the ))roduct 

 of yesterday. Every plant appears to partake of 

 this gigantic character. Thus the wild giape 

 vine, whieh with us rarely grows larger tlian a 

 stout waJking-stick, in our Western Stales some- 

 times surpasses in diameter the body of a full- 

 grown man. 'Jhis fact we have verified by ac- 

 tual admeasurement. 



The majesty of onr western forests is not a lit- 

 tle increased by the circumstance that Ihev are 

 generally fri'e from nuder-growth. The hanks of 

 the upper Rlississippi especially, are covered with 

 trees of the largest size, shooting up to a lofty 

 height from tlie smooth leve's or gentle swells of 

 the green prairies beneadi, like the oaks in the fi- 

 nest parts of England. So tastefully are these 

 trees grouped by tlie hand of nature, and so en- 



