138 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TREES. 



PART I. 



acacias, deciduous cypresses, pines, and cedars. The dimensions of some of the 

 trees planted by M. Jansen have been sent us by Mr. Blaikie, who now (1835) 

 resides at Chaillot, in a house built in the midst of them : among them 

 are, an A^cer O'palus, 50ft. high, with a trunk U ft. in diameter; a Sophdra 

 japonica, 60 ft. high; and an /'lex balearica, .30 ft. high. A great many trees 

 were planted in the great park at Rarabouillet, about 1705, chiefly in avenues, 

 after a design made by Le Notre, who died a few years before, The majority 

 of the trees are abeles, and they have attained the height of upwards of 100 ft., 

 though many have fallen down from age. Between the years 1787 and 1789 

 a great many American trees were planted in that part of the grounds at Ram- 

 bouillet knowzi as the Jardin Anglais, which have thriven well, and many of 

 them have attained considerable size, as will appear from an account of them 

 in the Gardener's Magazine, vol. xi. p. 42. and p. 205. At Thury, the pro- 

 perty of the learned Vicomte H^ricart de Thury (see Annates d'Hort. de Paris, 

 torn. xi. p. 298.); at Baleine, near Moulins, the estate of Madame Aglae Adan- 

 son, the daughter of the botanist Adanson, a descendant of Helvetius, and 

 herself the author of La Maison de Canq^agne ; at Nerac, on the estate of the 

 Comte de Dijon ; and at various other places ; are collections of American 

 trees and shrubs planted before the revolution, of which we have received 

 notices from our correspondents, that will be found recorded, when we treat 

 of the trees to which they refer. Near Metz, at Columbiere, there are some 

 fine trees of the pine and fir tribe, and many American trees, which were 

 planted about the middle of the 18th century, by the Baron Tschoudi, the 

 father of the baron of that name who was the inventor of herbaceous craft- 

 ing; and who, after having been many years in the army, has retired to 

 Columbiere, and has there an extensive collection of trees and shrubs. 

 At Mereville there are many fine American trees, which were planted by 

 Mr. Blaikie, particularly the ailantus, which grows there to a large size, many 

 specimens having attained the height of 80 ft. in 40 years. At St. Leu, the 

 ailantus hps also attained a similar height in the same time, with a trunk of 

 3^ ft. in diameter. One of the oldest magnolias in France is at Maillardiere, 

 a property in the neighbourhood of Nantes. An account is given of this tree 

 in the Nouveau Du Humel, torn. ii. p. 220. _; and we have also been favoured 

 with its history, communicated by the proprietor, M. le Comte de la Bretesche, 

 to M. Durand de Lancon of Coutance in Normandy, and sent to us by him ; 

 and with a description of it by M. Nerriere, a nurseryman at Nantes. The 

 particulars will be found under the head of Magn6h« grandiflora : it will be 

 sufficient to state here, that, after having sustained many injuries during the 

 century that it has stood at Maillardiere, the tree is still in existence, and is 

 now upwards of 30 ft. high. 



Historical notices and dimensions of many other large and old foreign 

 trees have been sent us, and they will be found under the heads of their 

 respective genera: but we may remark that there are few large and old trees in 

 France comparatively with what there are in England; not only on account of 

 the great changes which landed property has undergone in France, but because 

 trees in that country are grown principtilly for timber and fuel, and have at no 

 period been considered so much articles of luxury as they have been and are 

 in England, which is suppHed with timber for building from the Baltic, and 

 with fuel from its coal mines. 



The knowledge which we in England possess respecting the culture of trees 

 in France may be said to date from the publication of the Traite des Arhres 

 et Arbustes, by _Du Hamel, in 1755. Du Hamel was contemporary with 

 Miller and CoHinson of London, and was in general correspondence with 

 British botanists, to whom, in common with botanists in other parts of the 

 world, he, in the preface to his Avork, acknowdedges his obligations. In the 

 first and second editions (in 2 vols. 4to) of his Treatise, he describes 180 

 genera and nearly 1000 species, without including those small under-shrubs, 

 such as thyme, hyssop, &c., which technically are^ligneous plants ; and in the 

 third edition, known as the Nouveau Du Hamel (in 7 vols, folio), which was 



