148 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TREES. PART I. 



By looking into the various catalogues of the German botanic gardens, and 

 particularly into those of Giessen, founded in 1605, and of Altorf, Nurem- 

 berg, Rientel, and upwards of twenty others, founded between the commence- 

 ment of the 17th century and the middle of the 18th century, the dates of 

 the introduction into Germany of a number of trees and shurbs maybe found 

 by the curious. It will be sufficient for the purpose of this work, if we com- 

 mence with the introduction of American trees and shrubs into Germany, 

 which took place shortly after their introduction on a large scale into France; 

 the Argyll of Germany being Prince Lichtensteinof Eisgrub; and the DuHamel 

 of that country being Baron Otto von Munchausen of Schwobbache, near 

 Pyi-mont, in Westphalia, now united to the kingdom of Hanover, This 

 gentleman was the author of a work which obtained great celebrity in Germany 

 in his time, entitled Z)<?7' Hausvater (the Father of a Family). This book, which 

 was printed in 1765, may be compared to the British encylopsedias of 

 domestic economy, except that in it agriculture, gardening, and rui'al affairs 

 bear a more conspicuous part than housewifery and cookery ; it contains a 

 descriptive list of new and desirable trees and shrubs, with directions for 

 their culture, and for their disposition in lines ; arguing against clipping them 

 into geometrical figures, as was then the mode. We are assured (see Gard. 

 Mag., vol. ii. p. 386.) that it was the reading of this work, and especially the 

 arguments which it contained in favour of a more natural mode of disposing 

 and managing trees and shrubs in gardens, that gave the Empress Catharine 

 a taste for English gardening ; and that it was thus the means of introducing 

 that taste into Russia. As Hanover was at this time closely connected with 

 England, by being under the government of the same monarch, there can be 

 little doubt that the trees planted at Schwobbache would be procured from 

 the nurseries of this country. Contemporary planters were, in the Hano- 

 verian dominions. Count Veltheim of Harbcke, and Hinuber of Marienwerder 

 near Hanover: also the Duke of Dessau, at Worlitz, near Dessau, in Anhalt; 

 the Elector of Hesse, at Wilhelmshoe, near Cassel ; Prince Lichtenstein, on 

 his various estates in the Austrian dominions ; and the Emperor of Austria, 

 at Schdnbrunn, near Vienna. Besides these princes, and Margraves of Baden, 

 already mentioned, the following princes of Germany have distinguished them- 

 selves by planting foreign trees : Frederick the Great, and the present King of 

 Prussia, Frederick William IV, ; the late King of Saxony, Frederick Au- 

 gustus IV. ; the late King of Wurtemberg, Frederick William ; the late 

 Grand-Duke of Weimar ,• the late Duke Ernest of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha ; Prince 

 Prinus of Dahlberg ; the Grand-Duke of Frankfort ; and the late Duchess of 

 Courland, at Loebichan in Saxony. We have received Return Papers from all 

 these places, from which we find that some of the foreign trees first planted in 

 them still exist. Schwobbache is in the possession of the grandson of the 

 author of Der Hausvater, and contains a number of very interesting trees. 

 Among these are, a tulip tree, near a pond, 120 years planted, which is 80 ft. 

 high; Njssa aquatica, 60 years planted, which forms a magnificent tree 40 ft. 

 high, with a wide-spreading head and branches drooping to the ground : it is 

 in a low moist situation, and its roots, which extend to a great distance, send 

 up innumerable suckers ; in the autumn the leaves, before dropping olF, be- 

 come as red as blood. The finest tree of this kind in England is on the 

 Duke of Wellington's grounds at Strathfieldsaye ; it is 30 ft. high, and, being 

 rather in a moist situation, will probably one deiy rival the tree at Schwob- 

 bache, which, in all probability, is the finest specimen of Nyss« in Europe. 

 C'6r34us arborescens (? C. C'olurna), at Schwobbache, 100 years planted, 

 forms a regular-headed tree, with a straight clean trunk 2 ft. in diameter, 

 ^'cer eriocarpum, saccharinum, and O'palus, have been 80 years planted, and 

 are noble trees ; -.'E'sculus Pavia and flava are stately trees, and flower freely ; 

 Robinia Pseud-Jcacia, 120 years planted, is a large and most picturesque 

 tree; C/'lmus americana, 120 years planted, and Juglans cinerea and nigra, 

 80 years planted, are noble trees. There are specimens of Castanea vesca. 



