Vlll 
PREFACE. 
Philadelphia, who has placed them, without charge, at the service of the 
publisher. 
In passing this edition through the press, I have not thought it advisable 
to make extensive alterations in the text, but have left it, with some correc- 
tions in the translation, as it was written by its distinguished author, adding a 
few observations on soil, propagation, &c., &c. These additions may always 
be distinguished by their being enclosed in brackets. For corrections of 
Hillhouse’s translation, and in other particulars, I cannot but acknowledge 
my great indebtedness to my friend Thomas Forrest Betton, M. D. of Ger- 
mantown, Pennsylvania. 
An improvement in the work would have consisted in rearranging the plates 
according to the demands of modern Science and nomenclature, but this 
would have required the renumbering of them, and thus all the numerous 
references to these in other books, would have been erroneous and confused. 
It was a singular circumstance, and a happy one it has proved for advanc- 
ing science, that Mr. Nuttall arrived in this country the very year that the 
younger Michaux left it. From that time he devoted his talents to Botany, 
and after visiting a large portion of the United States, with an aptitude for 
observation, a quickness of eye, tact in discrimination, and tenacity of 
memory, rarely possessed by one man, he published his extended, and most 
happily executed botanical work, the “ Genera of North American plants.” 
In 1834 he crossed the Rocky mountains, and explored the territory of Ore- 
gon and Upper California. With his peculiar qualifications, he prepared the 
supplement to Michaux’s Sylva, in three handsome volumes, corresponding in 
size with the present, the publication of which after many delays, was com- 
pleted in 1849, by my son, in Philadelphia. The two works are now one 
and homogeneous, the former most highly valued by all lovers of trees, and 
the latter destined to be equally so, when the fine products of our newly 
acquired western regions make their w-ay to our gardens and plantations. 
The frequent references I have made to Mr. Nuttall’s volumes, will show the 
reader that his additions to our Sylva, are both extensive and important ; 
inspection will convince him that both authors stand on the highest pedestal 
of merit. 
J. JAY SMITH. 
Philadelphia, February, 1850. 
