PREFACE. 
LIBRARY 
NEW YORK 
gQt A N IC A L 
qarobn 
The Forest Trees of America, being a subject of 
such great extent and importance, I felt, consequently, 
very diffident of undertaking their study, after what has 
been already done so well by my predecessor M. Mi- 
chaux. Yet, in offering a new edition of the American 
Sylya in English, it appeared requisite, in keeping pace 
with the progress of discovery, that all the forest trees 
of the extended dominion of the United States, should, 
in some way or other, be included in the present publi- 
cation; and, I confess, the magnitude of the task ap- 
peared, at first, sufficiently appalling, when we reflect 
on the vast territory now claimed by the United States. 
Beginning with the arctic limits of all arborescent vege- 
tation, in the wilds of Canada, which we cannot, with 
propriety, exclude, forming as it does the boreal boun- 
dary of the North American forest; we then follow the 
extended shores of the Atlantic, until, towards the ex- 
tremity of East Florida, and its Keys or Islands, we 
have attained the very confines of the tropical circle and 
make a near approach to the island of Cuba and the 
Bahamas: turning westward, we pass over the wide 
forests of the Mississippi, pursue the western streams, 
through vast woodless plains, until we attain the long 
crests of the “Rocky Mountains” or Northern Andes. 
Here, in these alpine regions, we meet with a total 
