Lorraine. Nevertheless, the fig and the vine ripen their fruit, and many deciduous foreign trees flower far better in the open air in the neighbourhood of Paris than they do in that of London. There are probably few plants that will endure the open air in the south of France, that might not be kept alive in the open air all the year in the southern extremity of Ireland, or in the neighbourhood of Penzance in Cornwall, though they would, probably, never flower at either of these places. The cause is so well known as to be hardly worth repeating: the summers in France have, proportionately to the latitude, more light and heat than those of Britain, and the winters less heat.

The first foreign trees introduced into France were, in all probability, those fruit-bearing species carried thither by the Romans; among which may doubtless be included the grape, the olive, and the fig, unless these and other fruit trees existed there at a still earlier period. In the progress of civilisation, many ages elapse before barren trees are planted either for timber or ornament. Charlemagne is praised by historians for eradicating the forests, and planting in their stead orchards and vineyards. He left a catalogue of certain plants, among which are some ligneous species, which he desired might be planted in all his gardens; but these, with the exception of the rose, were entirely for medicinal purposes. The earliest positive information that we have been able to obtain, respecting the introduction of foreign trees into France, is from the catalogue of Robin, gardener to Henry IV., which was published in 1610. It contains some few ligneous plants, such as the orange, pomegranate, the usual fruit trees, and a few of the ornamental trees and shrubs which are indigenous to Spain and Italy. Henry IV. was succeeded, in 1610, by Louis XIII.; and the botanic garden of Paris was begun by the latter king, about the year 1626, though the letters patent establishing it were not executed till 1635. Of this garden a catalogue was published by Guy de la Brosse, the first intendant, and who was also physician to the king, in 1636. In the letters patent, Vespasian Robin (son to the Robin who was gardener to Henry IV.) is mentioned as arborist to Louis XIII.; and the first Robínia Pseùd-Acàcia that was brought to Europe from North America was planted by him, in the Jardin des Plantes, in 1635. It is still in existence, and is now (1835) 78 ft. high. About 1815 it began to show symptoms of decay, but, the branches being lopped, the trunk has shot out with redoubled vigour. The edict of Louis XIII. also directed that pharmacy and chemistry should be taught in the garden, and illustrated by the demonstration of plants. It is said that the faculty in Paris were strongly opposed to this edict," and especially desired that chemistry might not be taught." (Deleuze's Hist., &c. p. 10.) The garden continued gradually increasing in its collection of foreign trees and shrubs, under numerous successive intendants, till 1739, when the celebrated Buffon was appointed intendant; and he, among other improvements, planted, in 1740, an avenue of lime trees, which still exists.

The principal accession to the ligneous flora of France, however, dates from the connexion of that country with North America, which may be said to have taken place about the middle of the 18th century. Of the foreign trees planted in the garden about that time, the following still exist: Gleditschia triacánthos var. inérmis, 80 ft. high, sent from Canada by M. de la Galissonnière, the friend of Du Hamel, and governor of Canada, in 1748; Sophora japónica, the first plant sent to Europe from Japan about the same time, and now 64 ft. high; Ailántus glandulòsa, brought from China about the same time, 68 ft. high; Juniperus excélsa, male, planted by Tournefort, who brought it from the Levant in 1702, 62 ft. high, with a clear trunk of 15 ft.; Gymnócladus canadensis, male, 58 ft. high; and a number of others which will be found enumerated in a description of the Paris Botanic Garden, in the Gardener's Magazine, vol. xii. The oldest trees at present in the garden, and some of which appear to have been planted soon after its establishment, are, Acer monspessulanum, 45 ft. high; Céltis occidentàlis, 68 ft. high; Quercus I'lex, 42 ft. high; Plátanus orientalis, 74 ft. high; and Cèdrus Libàni, 80 ft. high. This tree is the oldest and largest cedar in France: it was given to

Bernard de Jussieu, when he visited England in 1734, by the benevolent and enlightened Peter Collinson, who had raised some plants (of which he gave Jussieu two) from cones brought from Mount Lebanon. The tree in the Paris garden produces abundance of cones, and is considered the parent of all the cedars in France: it would, no doubt, have attained a greater height, had not the leading shoot been accidentally broken off some years ago (the person who showed it to us in 1815 said by the first shot fired against the Bastile), since when it has increased only in breadth.

Deleuze, who has given a history of the introduction of plants of ornament into France, in the Annales du Muséum, tom. viii., states that the taste for foreign trees and shrubs passed from England into France; but that the mode of procuring them from the former country being found too expensive, a plan was devised for importing them direct from America. At the head of this design was the celebrated Du Hamel, who induced his friend, Admiral Galissonnière, to send him several tons of seeds of trees and shrubs, gathered at random in North America. These were sown on a large scale on Ďu Hamel's estates at Le Monceau and Vrigny, and on those of his brother at Denainvilliers. They succeeded perfectly, and the plants raised were so numerous, that the botanists who afterwards examined them found among them several new species. The brother of Du Hamel the academician, who was the proprietor of Denainvilliers, appears to have had the chief care of these plantations. He also assisted his brother in the preparation of his works, and especially in the Traité de la Culture des Terres. The Duke d'Ayen, afterwards Maréchal de Noailles, made an extensive plantation of exotics at St.Germain en Laye, in which flowered, for the first time in France, some American walnuts, and the Sophora japónica. This park was open to all amateurs. It was the Maréchal de Noailles who persuaded Louis XV. to establish at Trianon that botanic garden in which Bernard de Jussieu disposed, for the first time, plants in families according to the natural orders of his system. The maréchal was one of the first four honorary members of the Linnæan Society of London. He died in 1793 at the age of 80 years.

The Chevalier Jansen purchased in all the ports of Europe, and in foreign countries, the trees which he hoped he could acclimatise in France; these he planted in his garden at Chaillot, and afterwards distributed among botanists and cultivators. On this spot, in Paris, adjoining the Barrière de Chaillot, may still (1835) be seen superb trees, the seeds of which have produced many others, which have been spread throughout France. That illustrious magistrate and philosopher, Lamoignon de Malesherbes, acclimatised on his estate of Malesherbes a great number of foreign trees and shrubs: he was the first in France to raise fruit trees from seeds on a large scale, in order to obtain new varieties. The celebrated Lemonnier of Montreuil, near Versailles, the friend of André Michaux, encouraged the introduction of trees and shrubs more than any of his contemporaries. He was the first patron of Michaux; and though, as a physician, he was much occupied at court, he employed the greater part of his income, and the whole of his leisure, in procuring rare trees and plants for his garden at Montreuil. There, in a bottom of bog earth, he had a multitude of different species of kalmia, azalea, rhododendron, and other shrubs, among which rose up the superb stems of the Canadian lily. In the shade of spruce firs, of acacias, of tulip trees, and of magnolias, grew the undershrubs of Lapland, of Siberia, and of the Straits of Magellan. His fortune and his garden were much injured during the revolution; but he lived to see the plants which he had introduced become common among his friends everywhere. He died at the age of 84 years.

Through the kindness of M. Vilmorin we are enabled to notice the present state of the different plantations mentioned or alluded to by Deleuze, and of others made by different proprietors about the same period. The plantations of Du Hamel were chiefly cut down, or otherwise destroyed, during the revolution; those of the physician Lemonnier, at Montreuil, were entirely destroyed; those at the Trianon remain, and contain some good specimens of

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 Acer O'palus, 50 ft. high, with a trunk 1 ft. in diameter; a Sophora japónica, 60 ft. high; and an Ilex baleárica, 30 ft. high. A great many trees were planted in the great park at Rambouillet, about 1705, chiefly in avenues, after a design made by Le Nôtre, 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 Rambouillet known 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 property of the learned Vicomte Héricart de Thury (see Annales d'Hort. de Paris, tom. xi. p. 298.); at Baleine, near Moulins, the estate of Madame Aglaé Adanson, the daughter of the botanist Adanson, a descendant of Helvetius, and herself the author of La Maison de Campagne; 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 Columbière, 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 grafting; and who, after having been many years in the army, has retired to Columbière, 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 has 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 Maillardière, a property in the neighbourhood of Nantes. An account is given of this tree in the Nouveau Du Hamel, tom. 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 Lançon of Coutance in Normandy, and sent to us by him; and with a description of it by M. Nerrière, a nurseryman at Nantes. The particulars will be found under the head of Magnòlia grandiflòra: it will be sufficient to state here, that, after having sustained many injuries during the century that it has stood at Maillardière, 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 principally 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 supplied 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 Traité des Arbres et Arbustes, by Du Hamel, in 1755. Du Hamel was contemporary with Miller and Collinson 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 work, acknowledges 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

published from 1800 to 1819, nearly 2000 species and varieties are described, of which upwards of 500 are figured.

Du Hamel, in the preface to his work, says that he has treated of shrubs as well as trees, in order to lead to the pursuit of the useful through the medium of the agreeable. "There is reason," he says, "to hope that we shall be better listened to by the rich, when we propose to ornament their mansions with foreign trees, and their parks with thickets of flowering shrubs, than if we were simply to tell them to form plantations on lands unfit for producing corn or grass. If the self-love of the possessors of country seats is flattered by the view of common parks, notwithstanding the revolting uniformity of their thickets, which are only varied by differing in size or in form, is there not reason to hope that they will be much more highly gratified when the thickets in these parks offer that variety which is produced by different kinds of trees and shrubs, and which exhibits beauties suited to every season?" After giving directions for choosing flowering trees and shrubs to form thickets for the early part of spring, for the middle of spring, and for summer, he next shows the superior enjoyment to be derived from the culture of trees, to that which can be derived from the culture of herbaceous plants. "The most beautiful bed of hyacinths or tulips, when the flowers have once faded, leaves nothing but what is withered and unsightly; whilst the flowers of trees and shrubs which generally appear in spring are succeeded by the most vivid green leaves; and even in winter, after these have dropped, the ramification of the branches and spray is beautiful and interesting." (Preface, p. xviii.)

Du Hamel remarks that the greatest difficulty which opposed itself to his plan of rendering foreign trees and shrubs general in France was, that the greater part of them were not to be found for sale in the public nurseries. From this we may conclude that those who did introduce foreign trees and shrubs into France, during the 18th century, received them chiefly from abroad. Of this, indeed, there can be no doubt, since it is attested by a living witness, Mr. Thomas Blaikie, already mentioned, who is a native of Scotland, and has been settled in France as a landscape-gardener since the year 1776. In the Encyclopedia of Gardening, edit. 1835, p. 88., will be found a list of gardens and grounds laid out by Mr. Blaikie in France between 1776 and 1794, in which he mentions that for one place (Maison) he "went to England to buy the trees and shrubs; as at that time few trees or shrubs could be found in any nursery near Paris." Mr. Blaikie also laid out several places for the Duke of Orleans, and especially Monceaux, the trees and shrubs for which were all procured from the Hammersmith Nursery.

The culture of foreign trees and shrubs in French nurseries appears to have commenced about the beginning of the present century, and the principal nurserymen who engaged in that branch were M. Noisette, whose father was gardener to Monsieur, afterwards Louis XVIII., at Brunoy, and M. Cels, who is now dead, and whose nursery is carried on by his son. On this subject, we refer for further details to the historical part of the Encyclopædia of Gardening.

Among the principal amateurs who have collected foreign trees and shrubs in France, since the commencement of the present century, may be mentioned, first and principally, the Empress Josephine, who had a collection at Malmaison of all that could be supplied from the London nurseries; the late Baron Pappenheim, who endeavoured to acclimatise many species at Coombe la Ville; Admiral Tchitchagoff, who has a fine collection at Scéaux; Monsieur de Magneville, near Caen, who is noted for his collection of pines; the Duke of Orleans (now King of the French), who has an arboretum at Neuilly, a catalogue of which was published by his gardener, Jacques, in 1833; M. Du Mont de Courset, at Boulogne; M. Soulange-Bodin, at Fromont on the Seine; M. Vilmorin, at Barres; M. le Baron Tschoudi, at Columbière, near Metz; M. le Comte de Montbron, at Clervaux, near Chatelherault; M. Ivoy, in the neighbourhood of Bourdeaux, celebrated for his collection of pines and firs; and General Lemarrais, formerly aid-de-camp to Napoleon.

This last proprietor has planted in Normandy upwards of 60,000 of the Pinus Larício; 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 trunk 9 ft. in circumference close to the ground. From all these gardens, 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 Baumanns 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 establishment of M. Soulange-Bodin at Fromont, in the neighbourhood 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 berbaceous, 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 Annales de l'Institut de Fromont; in the Encyclopedia of Gardening, edit. 1835; and in the Gardener'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, André 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 navy, and was a member of the Académie 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 Architecture, 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 country 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 officer. He left no child, and his estates went to his nephews. One of these, Fougeroux de Bondaroy, has published an interesting Mémoire sur les Pins, inserted in the Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences. Vrigny, Du Hamel's principal estate, now belongs to M. Charles de Fougeroux, 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.

André 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 Bernard de Jussieu, at Trianon; and in 1779 he was studying in the Jardin des Plantes. Soon after this he came to England, and