^ 



Biography of F. A. Michavx. 1G7 



w 



Such was Francois Andre Micliaux's exploring journey to the 

 Western states, of which he pubhshed a very detailed account, 

 two years afterwards, in a work entitled "Fbya^e dVOuestdcs 

 Monts Alleglieny^ &c. <£c.," During this journey, he did not 

 merely devote his attention to botanical pursuits; but, with his 

 usual habits of observation and extraordinary sagacity of mind, 

 he diligently inquired into the state and modes of agriculture; 

 the nature of the different soils; their particular vegetable pro- 

 ductions, and the commercial relations existing between those 

 remote rcsions and the Atlantic cities. He ever afterwards felt 

 n considerable pleasure in relating the episodes of this long and 

 toilsome journey through these regions, then but thinly settled, 

 and yet the abode of the roving Indian tribes. 



He spoke with enthusiasm, and in terms of unreserved grati- 

 tude, of attentions of which he was the object; his name was a 

 passport which insured to him a most hearty welcome, and every 

 assistance from those Avho had known his father, and had re- 

 ceived from him seeds for planting or instructions in farming. 

 To the new settlers he was always provided with letters of intro- 

 duction, which procured him the same good reception. Every 

 where he was hailed with manifestations of respect for the mem- 

 ory of his father, and with unanimous expressions of a desire to 

 be useful to the son in any way within their power. 



Michaux remained in Charleston until the first of March, 1803. 

 when he embarked again for France, in the same vessel on board 

 of which he had sailed from the port of Bordeaux, eighteen 

 months before, and landed at that port on the 26th of the same 

 p^onth. On his arrival in Paris, he made ex^ry effort in hasten- 

 ing the publication of his father's '' Ilistoire des chenes d'Amer- 

 iqiie^^' which had been printed in 1801, but the plates of which 

 had not yet been completed. He attended also to the publica- 

 tion of the ^^ Flora Boreali-Americana^^^ under the supervision of 

 Claude Richard, an eminent botanist and a superior writer. Both 

 these works were finally announced to the scientific world in the 

 years 1803 and 1804, and were eagerly expected by those who 

 took an interest in the vegetable productions of North America. 



In the latter year, Michaux published his ^^ Journey to the 

 West of the Alleghany Mountains^^^ and the following year his 

 niemoir ^^ Sur la Naturalisation des Arbres Forestiers deVAmeriqite 

 du Nord.^^ In this memoir, addressed to the Central Society of 



CTl 



endeavored to prove the great advantage which might accrue to 

 France from the acclimation of better trees than those which lier 

 native forests actually possess, and of such, principally, as might 

 well succeed in soils too poor for any of the French trees to thrive 

 therein. In support of his opinion, he pointed out the swampy 



lands of France, as producing no wood of any value, whilst sim- 



