140 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TREES. 



PART I. 



This last proprietor has planted in Normandy upwards of 60,000 of the Pinus 

 Laricio ; and, in the Forest of Fontainebleau, M. de Larminat has grafted 

 10,000 Scotch pines with scions of this valuable tree; an example well 

 worthy of imitation by the proprietors of newly planted pine woods in Britain. 



In the different botanic gardens in France, there are arboretums more or 

 less extensive : the most complete is that of the Paris garden ; but those of 

 Metz, Strasburg, Montpelier, and Toulon are also good. In the latter there 

 is a deciduous cypress which, in 35 years, has attained the height of 80 ft,, 

 with a ti'unk 9 ft. in circumference close to the ground. From all these gar- 

 dens, and several others, we have had lists and dimensions of the trees, which 

 will be found under the different genera. 



Some of the nurseries have extensive collections ; judging from their sale 

 catalogues, those of Cels, Noisette, and Godefroy appear to be the best in 

 Paris, or its neighbourhood ; and those of Audibert of Tarascon, of the Bau- 

 manns at Bolwyller, and of Jacquemet-Bonneford at Ammonoy, seem to be 

 the most extensive in the provinces. The Bolwyller Nursery, situate near 

 Mulhausen, in Alsace, was established by M. Joseph Baumann (who was 

 formerly gardener to the late Grand-Duchess of Courland), in conjunction 

 with his brother Augustine, about the end of the last century. The esta- 

 blishment of M. Soulange-Bodin at Fromont, in the neighboui-hood of Paris, 

 is perhaps the most remarkable in France. It combines the most extensive 

 system of propagation both of hardy and house plants, ligneous and herba- 

 ceous, with an institution for the instruction of young men in the science and 

 practice of horticulture. The nature of this establishment, and its extensive 

 collections, will be found at length in the Amwles de PInstitut de Froviont ; in 

 the Encyclo'pcEdia of Gardening, edit, 1835 ,• and in the Gardenej-'s Magazine, 

 vol. ix, p. 141., and in vol. xi. 



The individuals who have exercised most influence on the introduction of 

 foreign trees and shrubs into France appear to have been Du Hamel, Andre 

 Michaux, and Du Mont de Courset. 



Henri-Louis Du Hamel du Monceau was born at Paris in 1700, and died 

 in 1782. He was proprietor of several estates, besides that from which 

 he takes his designation. He was appointed inspector of the French nav)'-, 

 and was a luember of the Acadhnie des Sciences, and a Fellow of the Royal 

 and other Societies in Britain, as well as of several on the Continent. He 

 was the author of a number of works on agriculture, forest trees, fruit trees 

 vegetable physiology, and rural economy, and of the Elements of Naval Archi- 

 tecture, all of which appeared between the years 1747 and 1768. His most 

 important work is the Physique des Arbres, which contains much of what, in this 

 countrj' at least, has been attributed to subsequent discovery. We allude more 

 particularly to the theory of the ascent of the sap by the wood, and its descent 

 by the bark. Du Hamel is said to have been a man of great modesty, and 

 to have devoted his life to agricultural pursuits, to the mechanical arts, and 

 to his duties as a public of&cer. He left no child, and his estates went to his 

 nephews. One of these, Fougeroux de Bondaroy, has published an interest- 

 ing Memoire sur les Pins, inserted in the Memoires de P Academic des Sciences. 

 Vrign}% Du Hamel's principal estate, now belongs to M. Charles de Fouge- 

 roux, his grand-nephew, who not only takes the greatest care of the trees 

 left to him by his grand-uncle, but plants extensively himself. Denainvilliers 

 and Monceau now belong to M. de Denainvilliers, the grandson of the brother 

 of Du Hamel du Monceau. There are on these two estates a number of very 

 fine exotic trees, of which the present proprietors take the greatest care. The 

 finest deciduous trees are those that were planted by Du Hamel in some marshy 

 ground at Monceau ; and some of them have attained the height of 90 ft. 



Andre Michaux was born in the Park of Versailles, in 1746, and soon 

 evinced a taste for agriculture and botany, which was fostered by his 

 early patron, the court physician, M, Lemonnier. In 1777 he studied 

 botany under Bernai'd de Jussieu, at Trianon ; and in 1779 he was study- 

 ing in the Jardin des Plantes. Soon after this he came to England, and 



