174 Biography of F. A. Michaux. 



and possessed prominent features. His light blue eyes liad a pe- 

 culiar expression which startled me at first. His countenance 

 was stern and cold on first approach; but it smoothed off and 

 brightened gradually, as he spoke and became more familiar; 

 his utterance, in the beginning somewhat slow and cautious, be- 

 came rapid and impressive, and his conversation gay and even 

 humorous. All his manners. were quite simple and unaffected, 

 frank and lively — they were altogether those of an open-hearted 

 country gentleman, in whose presence, young as I was at the 

 time, I could feel neither embarrassment nor shyness. 



I 



Micbaux. his 



-^•.^ 





f)Osition and pursuits underwent much change. To the very 

 ast day of his life, he was fortunate enough to retain his healtli 

 and his remarkable activity of body and mind. The main point 

 of his arboricultural experiments, was to turn to advantage those 

 lands, called heaths, which in France alone, do not cover less 

 than two millions of acres, and were considered as utterly sterile.- 

 Through forty years of experiments, performed by him on the 

 large demesnes belonging to the Central Society of Agriculture, 

 and to Mr. Delamarre, be has ascertained that such lands could 

 be improved and rendered productive by the cultivation of cer- 

 tain resinous trees, which succeed well in such soils. Of all the 

 American and European pines with which he has experimented, 

 Michaux gives the preference to the Russian Pine, Piniis sylves- 

 iris^ which, in his letter to the President of the American Philo- 

 sophical Society, above mentioned, he recommends warmly to 

 the particular attention of the agriculturists of the Northern and 

 Middle States of the Union. 



With the view to render the scarcity of wood, under which 

 this country is beginning to suffer, through the rapid and im- 

 provident destruction of the native forests, Michaux recommends 

 also to the American people the cultivation of bushy or spread- 

 ing trees, producing copses, or Taillis^ to which he has applied 

 a special mode of culture, more rational and more favorable to 

 tiie development of vegetation, and, consequently, more profita- 

 ble to the land-holders. 



We are informed by the same letter, that Michaux was then 

 preparing for publication a work in which he intended, succinctly, 

 to develop his ideas on those interesting subjects, and to lay 

 open the results of his observations and practical experience, for 

 the particular benefit of the farmers and land-holders of the 

 United States. 



^ Michaux's last days w^ere thus pa^ssed tranquilly, dividing his 

 time between his favorite occupations of arboriculture, and the 

 society of a few friends, among whom, the most intimate were 

 President Seguier, Messrs. Macarel, D'Andr6 and Yilmorin. 

 Louis PhiliDDC himself who had know^n him in this country. 



