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 Another Random Document on
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a club, four feet long, until you drive it away, merely watching the
operations of the point of the tail, that, at each blow you give,
thrashes to the right and left most furiously.

‘The drivers of cattle from the Appelousas, and those of mules

from Mexico, on reaching a lagoon or creek, send several of their
party into the water, armed merely each with a club, for the purpose
of driving away the alligators from the cattle; and you may then see
men, mules, and those monsters, all swimming together, the men
striking the alligators, that would otherwise attack the cattle, of
which they are very fond, and those latter hurrying towards the
opposite shores, to escape those powerful enemies. They will swim
swiftly after a dog, or a deer, or a horse, before attempting the
destruction of man, of which I have always remarked they were
afraid, if the man feared not them.

‘Although I have told you how easily an alligator may be killed

with a single rifle-ball, if well aimed, that is to say, if it strike either
in the eye or very immediately above it, yet they are quite as difficult
to be destroyed if not shot properly; and, to give you an idea of this,
I shall mention two striking facts.

‘My good friend Richard Harlan, M.D. of Philadelphia, having

intimated a wish to have the heart of one of these animals to study
its comparative anatomy, I one afternoon went out about half a mile
from the plantation and, seeing an alligator that I thought I could
put whole into a hogshead of spirits, I shot it immediately on the
skull bone. It tumbled over from the log on which it had been
basking, into the water, and, with the assistance of two negroes,
I had it out in a few minutes, apparently dead. A strong rope was
fastened round its neck, and, in this condition, I had it dragged
home across logs, thrown over fences, and handled without the least
fear. Some young ladies there, anxious to see the inside of his
mouth, requested that the mouth should be propped open with a
stick put vertically; this was attempted, but at this instant the first
stunning effect of the wound was over, and the animal thrashed and
snapped its jaws furiously, although it did not advance a foot. The
rope being still round the neck, I had it thrown over a strong branch
of a tree in the yard, and hauled the poor creature up swinging, free
from all about it, and left it twisting itself, and scratching with its
fore feet to disengage the rope. It remained in this condition until
the next morning, when finding it still alive, though very weak, the
hogshead of spirits was put under it, and the alligator fairly lowered
into it with a surge. It twisted about a little; but the cooper secured
the cask, and it was shipped to Philadelphia, where it arrived in
course.

‘Again, being in company with Augustin Bourgeat, Esq., we met

an extraordinary large alligator in the woods whilst hunting; and, for
the sake of destruction I may say, we alighted from our horses, and
approached with full intention to kill it. The alligator was put
between us, each of us provided with a long stick to irritate it; and,
by making it turn its head partly on one side, afford us the means of
shooting it immediately behind the fore leg and through the heart.
We both discharged five heavy loads of duck-shot into its body, and
almost all into the same hole, without any other effect than that of
exciting regular strokes of the tail, and snapping of the jaws at each
discharge, and the flow of a great quantity of blood out of the
wound, and mouth, and nostrils of the animal; but it was still full of
life and vigor, and to have touched it with the hand would have been
madness; but as we were anxious to measure it, and to knock off
some of its larger teeth to make powder charges, it was shot with a
single ball just above the eye, when it bounded a few inches off the
ground, and was dead when it reached it again. Its length was
seventeen feet; it was apparently centuries old; many of its teeth
measured three inches. The shot taken were without a foot only of
the circle that we knew the tail could form, and our shots went en
masse.

‘As the lakes become dry, and even the deeper connecting
bayous empty themselves into the rivers, the alligators congregate
into the deepest hole in vast numbers; and, to this day, in such
places, are shot for the sake of their oil, now used for greasing the
machinery of steam-engines and cotton mills, though formerly, when
indigo was made in Louisiana, the oil was used to assuage the
overflowing of the boiling juice, by throwing a ladleful into the kettle
whenever this was about to take place. The alligators are caught
frequently in nets by fishermen; they then come without struggling
to the shore, and are killed by blows on the head given with axes.

‘When autumn has heightened the coloring of the foliage of our

woods, and the air feels more rarefied during the nights and earlier
part of the day, the alligators leave the lakes to seek for winter
quarters, by burrowing under the roots of trees, or covering
themselves simply with earth along their edges. They become then
very languid and inactive, and, at this period, to sit or ride on one
would not be more difficult than for a child to mount his wooden
rocking-horse. The negroes, who now kill them, put all danger aside,
by separating, at one blow with an axe, the tail from the body. They
are afterwards cut up in large pieces, and boiled whole in a good
quantity of water, from the surface of which the fat is collected with
large ladles. One single man kills oftentimes a dozen or more of
large alligators in the evening, prepares his fire in the woods, where
he has erected a camp for the purpose, and by morning has the oil
rendered.

‘I have frequently been very much amused when fishing in a

bayou, where alligators were numerous, by throwing a blown
bladder on the water towards the nearest to me. The alligator makes
for it, flaps it towards its mouth, or attempts seizing it at once, but
all in vain. The light bladder slides off; in a few minutes many
alligators are trying to seize this, and their evolutions are quite
interesting. They then put one in mind of a crowd of boys running
after a football. A black bottle is sometimes thrown also, tightly
corked; but the alligator seizes this easily, and you hear the glass
give way under its teeth as if ground in a coarse mill. They are easily
caught by negroes, who most expertly throw a rope over their heads
when swimming close to shore, and haul them out instantly.’
 The Tortoise is found in considerable numbers and variety. In the
lakes west of the Mississippi, and near New Orleans, a soft shelled
mud-tortoise is found, which epicures declare to be not much
inferior to the sea-turtle of the West Indies. The gouffre is an animal
apparently of the tortoise class, and is abundant in the pine barrens
of the south-western states. Its shell is large and thick, and it
burrows to a great depth in the ground; its strength and power are
wonderful, and in many respects it is similar to the logger-head
turtle. The siren is nearly two feet in length, and a very singular
animal; it somewhat resembles the lamprey. It is amphibious,
penetrates the mud easily, and seems to be of an order between fish
and lizards. The whole of the republic is prolific in toads, frogs, and
reptiles of that class; but they are found in the greatest number and
variety in the regions of the warmest temperature.
 V. INSECTS.
The insects of the United States are numerous, and many of
them beautiful; many of the species are entirely new, and science
has been much indebted to Mr. Say for additions of no
inconsiderable importance to entomology. The moths and butterflies
are exceedingly splendid, and one of them, the atlas moth, is the
largest hitherto known. Among the spiders, is a huge species called
the tarantula, supposed to inflict a dangerous bite. The annoyance
inflicted by moschetos in hot weather is well known; by these and
other stinging insects, damp and low situations are rendered very
disagreeable during the summer. The fire flies, which glitter
especially in the southern forests, are very interesting. The copper
colored centiped, a creature of cylindrical form, and as long as a
man’s finger, is dreaded as noxious; a family is said to have been
poisoned by taking tea in which one of them had been accidentally
boiled.

One insect, the ægeria exitiosa, has committed great ravages

among the peach trees. The larva begins the work of destruction
about the beginning of October, by entering the tree, probably
through the tender bark under the surface of the soil; thence it
proceeds downwards, within the tree, into the root, and then turns
its course upwards towards the surface, where it arrives about the
commencement of the succeeding July. They voraciously devour
both the alburnum and the liber, the new wood and the inner bark.
The insects deposit from one to three hundred eggs within the bark
of the tree, according to its capacity to support their progeny.
 The United States are not free from the scourge of the locust.
The males have under each wing a ribbed membrane as thin as a
gossamer’s web, which, when inflated, constitutes their musical
organ. The female has a sting or drill, the size of a pin, and near half
an inch in length, of a hard and brittle substance, which lies on the
under surface of the body; with this the insect drills a hole into the
small limbs of trees, quite to the pith; there it deposits through this
hollow sting or drill some dozen or two of small white eggs. The time
required to drill the hole and deposit the egg is from two to five
minutes. When undisturbed, they make some half dozen or more
insertions of their drill in the same limb, perhaps an inch apart, and
these punctures usually produce speedy death to the end of the
limb. They sometimes swarm about the forests in countless
multitudes, making ‘melancholy music,’ and causing no less
melancholy desolation.

GENERAL REMARKS ON ZOOLOGY.

The zoology of the United States opens a wide and interesting field of
observation: it is more peculiar and striking than either the mineralogy or
botany. The following general view of the mammiferous animals inhabiting
North America is given by Dr. Harman. The number of species now
ascertained is one hundred and forty-six, in which we do not include man;
of these twenty-eight are cetacea, and one hundred and eighteen are
quadrupeds. Among the quadrupeds, Dr. Harman reckons eleven species, of
which no living trace is found in any part of the world; which cannot of
course be considered as forming a part of our present zoology. The number
of living species of quadrupeds is therefore one hundred and seven. The
comparative numbers of the several orders are stated as follows, omitting
man:

Carnivora 60
Glires 37
Edentata 6
Pachydermata 2
Ruminantia 13
Cetacea 28

We may here introduce from Dr. Harman a statement of the number of

North American quadrupeds, which he conceives to be common both to the
new and old world.

Species.
1 Mole.
2 Shrew.
1 Bear.
1 Glutton.
1 Otter.
2 Wolf.
2 Fox.
2 Seal.
2 Weasel.
1 Beaver.
1 Field-mouse.
1 Campagnol (rat.)
1 Squirrel.
2 Deer.
1 Sheep.

The whole number of common species is twenty one; leaving eighty-six

species as peculiar to North America, though not all of them to the United
States.

Charles Lucien Bonaparte has arranged the birds of the United States in
twenty-eight families, eighty-one genera, and three hundred and sixty-two
species, viz.: two hundred and nine land, and one hundred and fifty-three
water-birds. Of the eighty-one genera, sixty-three are common to Europe
and America, while eighteen have no representatives in Europe.
 CHAPTER XVII.—
BOTANY.
The vegetation of the United States is as various as the climate
and soil. In Florida and the southern states, the superb magnolia,
the majestic tulip tree and the deciduous cypress charm the traveller
by their grandeur and beauty. The lofty oak, the stately fir and the
gracefully-waving elm of the north, present a different and still a
highly interesting study to the naturalist. As a general observation,
the trees of the United States are larger, taller, and more generally
useful for timber than those of Europe. As to height, it is observed
by Michaux, that, while in France only thirty-seven species of trees
arrive at thirty feet, in the transatlantic republic, one hundred and
thirty exceed that elevation. A general idea of the American forest
having thus been given, we will now notice, as largely as our limits
will permit, the most remarkable trees.

Oak.—The White Oak is found throughout the United States,

though it is by no means equally diffused. It abounds chiefly in the
middle states, particularly in that part of Pennsylvania and Virginia
which lies between the Alleghanies and the Ohio, a distance of about
one hundred and fifty miles, where nine tenths of the forests are
frequently composed of these trees, whose healthful appearance
evinces the favorable nature of the soil. East of the mountains, this
tree is found in every exposure, and in every soil which is not
extremely dry or subject to long inundations; but the largest stocks
grow in humid places. In the western districts, where it composes
entire forests, the face of the country is undulated, and the yellow
soil, consisting partly of clay with calcareous stones, yields abundant
crops of wheat.

The white oak attains the elevation of seventy or eighty feet,

with a diameter of six or seven feet; but its proportions vary with the
soil and climate. Soon after their unfolding, the leaves are reddish
above and white and downy beneath; when fully grown, they are
smooth and of a light green on the upper surface. In autumn, they
change to a bright violet color, and form an agreeable contrast with
the surrounding foliage which has not yet suffered by the frost. This
is the only oak on which a few of the dried leaves remain till the
circulation is renewed in the spring. By this peculiarity and by the
whiteness of the bark, from which it derives its name, it is easily
distinguishable in the winter. This tree puts forth flowers in May,
which are succeeded by acorns of an oval form, large, very sweet,
contained in rough, shallow, grayish cups, and borne singly or in
pairs, by peduncles eight or ten lines in length, attached, as in all
species of annual fructification, to the shoots of the season. The fruit
of the white oak is rarely abundant, and frequently, for several years
in succession, a few handfuls of acorns could hardly be collected in a
large forest where the tree is multiplied. Some stocks produce
acorns of a deep blue color.

Of all the American oaks, this is the best and the most generally
used, being strong, durable, and of large dimensions. It is less
employed than formerly in building, only because it is scarcer and
more costly. Among the uses of this wood, the most important is in
ship-building. In all the dock yards of the northern and middle
states, except Maine, it is almost exclusively employed for the keel,
and always for the lower part of the frame and the sides: it is
preferred for the knees, when sticks of a proper form can be found.
In the smaller ports south of New York, the upper part of the frame
is also made of white oak; but such vessels are less esteemed than
those constructed of more durable wood. The medicinal properties
of oak bark depend on its astringency, and that again on its tannin.
The inner bark of the small branches is the strongest, the middle
bark next, and the outer bark is almost useless.

The Gray Oak, Water Oak, Bear Oak, Upland, Willow Oak, and
Bartram Oak are interesting varieties. The Laurel Oak is a stranger
north of Philadelphia, and is rare in the more southern states. It is
most abundant in the open savannas of Illinois. Rising to the height
of forty or fifty feet, clad in a smooth bark, and for three fourths of
its height laden with branches, it presents an uncouth appearance
when bared by the winter blasts, but in the summer with its thick
tufted foliage is really beautiful. The Black Oak is found throughout
the country, with the exception of the northern part of New England.
It is one of the loftiest of the American forest trees, rising to the
height of eighty or ninety feet, with a diameter of four or five feet.
The wood is reddish and coarse-grained, with empty pores, but is
esteemed for strength and durability. It furnishes excellent fuel, and
the bark is largely used for tanning. Other varieties of the oak are
numerous.

Walnut.—The Black Walnut is met with in large numbers in the

forests in the vicinity of Philadelphia, and with the exception of the
lower parts of the southern states, where the soil is too sandy, or
too wet as in the swamps, it is met with to the banks of the
Mississippi throughout an extent of two thousand miles. East of the
Alleghanies in Virginia, and in the upper parts of the Carolinas and
Georgia, it is chiefly confined to the valleys where the soil is deep
and fertile, and which are watered by creeks and rivers. On the
banks of the Ohio and on the islands of this beautiful river, the black
walnut attains the elevation of sixty or seventy feet, with a diameter
of three to seven feet. Its powerful vegetation clearly points out this,
as one of the largest trees of America. When it stands insulated, its
branches, extending themselves horizontally to a great distance,
spread into a spacious head, which gives it a very majestic
appearance. The bark is thick, blackish, and on old trees deeply
furrowed. The leaves when bruised emit a strong aromatic odor.

When the wood of this tree is freshly cut, the sap is white and
the heart of a violet color, which, after a short exposure to the air,
assumes an intenser shade, and becomes nearly black: hence
probably is derived the name Black Walnut. There are several
qualities for which its wood is principally esteemed: it remains sound
for a long time, even when exposed to the influences of heat and
moisture; but this observation is only applicable to the heart, the sap
speedily decays: it is very strong and very tenacious: when
thoroughly seasoned, it is not liable to warp and split; and its grain
is sufficiently fine and compact to admit of a beautiful polish. It
possesses, in addition to these advantages, that of being secure
from worms. On account of these excellencies, it is preferred and
successfully employed in many kinds of work. East of the
Alleghanies, its timber is not extensively used in building houses,
but, in some parts of Kentucky and Ohio, it is split into shingles
which serve to cover them: sometimes also this timber enters into
the composition of the frame. But it is chiefly in cabinet-making, that
this wood is employed wherever it abounds.

There are several other species of the walnut. The Shell-bark

Hickory sometimes grows to the height of eighty or ninety feet, with
a diameter of less than two feet; the trunk is destitute of branches,
regularly shaped, and almost of a uniform size for three fourths of its
length. The Butternut is found in all the New England states, and in
the middle states.

Maple.—The Sugar Maple, called also rock maple, has leaves five-
parted, and yellowish green flowers, and is one of the loftiest trees
in our forests. Its trunk is usually straight and entire, to the height of
from forty to eighty feet, where it suddenly unfolds into a dense top,
crowded with rich foliage. The bark of the older trees is gray, and
marked with numerous deep clefts. The wood is firm and heavy,
though not durable. It is much used by cabinet-makers, and when
cut at the right season forms excellent fuel. Michaux says, that it
grows in its greatest perfection, between the forty-third and forty-
sixth degrees of north latitude.

The White Maple, sometimes called silver maple, is distinguished

by having its leaves five-parted, and white beneath; its flowers
reddish yellow, without flower-stalks. The trunk frequently divides
near the ground, so as to appear like several trunks close together.
These divisions diverge a little as they rise, and often at the height
of from eight to twenty feet the top commences. This is generally
larger in proportion to the trunk, than the top of any other tree. It
blossoms earlier than the sugar maple. The fruit is larger than that
of any other species: it advances with great rapidity towards
perfection, ripens and falls about June in Georgia, and May in
Pennsylvania. The fruit of the sugar maple does not ripen until
October. The white maple is principally found on the banks of rivers,
and on the banks of such only as have a clean gravelly bottom and
clear water. It is most luxuriant on flats which are subject to annual
inundations, and is usually the first settler on alluvial deposits. ‘The
banks of the Sandy river, in Maine,’ says Michaux, ‘and those of the
Connecticut in Windsor, Vermont, are the most northerly points at
which I have seen the white maple. It is found more or less on all
the rivers of the United States, flowing from the mountains to the
Atlantic, but becomes scarce in South Carolina and Georgia. In no
part of the United States is it more multiplied than in the western
country, and no where is its vegetation more luxuriant than on the
banks of the Ohio, and of the great rivers that empty into it. There,
sometimes alone, and sometimes mingled with the willow, which is
found all along these waters, it contributes singularly by its
magnificent foliage to the embellishment of the scene. The brilliant
white of the leaves beneath, forms a striking contrast with the bright
green above, and the alternate reflection of these two surfaces in
the water, heightens the beauty of this wonderful moving mirror, and
aids in forming an enchanting picture, which during my long
excursions in a canoe, in these regions of solitude and silence,
I contemplated with unwearied admiration.’
 The Red-flowering Maple is a beautiful tree, and in the swamps
of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, it is found to the height of sixty or
seventy feet, with a diameter of three or four. It blossoms earlier in
the spring than any other tree, and flowers from the middle to the
last of April. The blossoms, of a beautiful purple or deep red, unfold
more than a fortnight before the leaves. This tree furnishes wood
adapted to a variety of purposes; it is much used in making domestic
wares and agricultural implements. Furniture of great richness and
lustre is also made of it. It is not good fuel. The Mountain, Striped
and Ash-leaved Maples are all beautiful trees.

Birch.—The Black Birch abounds in New England and the middle

states; farther south it is confined to the summits of the Alleghanies.
It often exceeds seventy feet in height. At the close of winter, the
leaves, during a fortnight after their birth, are covered with a thick,
silvery down, which soon after disappears. When bruised, the leaves
and bark diffuse a very agreeable odor, and as they retain this
property when dried and carefully preserved, they afford a pleasant
infusion, with the addition of a little sugar and cream. The wood is
applied to a variety of useful purposes; it is of a rosy hue, which
deepens on exposure to the light. The Yellow, Canoe, White, and
Red Birch are found in various localities throughout the country.

Pines.—The pines constitute a large and interesting class of

American forest trees. The most valuable species is that which is
known in England and the West Indies as the Georgia Pitch Pine;
and which, in the United States, is variously called yellow pine, pitch
pine, broom pine, southern pine, red pine, and long-leaved pine, a
name which is adopted by Michaux. Towards the north, the long-
leaved pine makes its appearance near Norfolk, in Virginia, where
the pine-barrens begin. It seems to be especially assigned to dry
sandy soils; and it is found, almost without interruption, in the lower
part of Carolinas, Georgia, and the Floridas, over a tract more than
six hundred miles long, from north-east to south-west, and more
than a hundred miles broad, from the sea towards the mountains.
Immediately beyond Raleigh, it holds almost exclusive possession of
the soil, and is seen in company with other pines only on the edges
of swamps, enclosed in the barrens; even there not more than one
stock in a hundred is of another species, and with this exception, the
long-leaved pine forms the unbroken mass of woods which covers
this extensive country.

The mean stature of the long-leaved pine is sixty or seventy feet,

with a uniform diameter of fifteen or sixteen inches for two thirds of
this height. Some stocks, favored by local circumstances, attain
much larger dimensions, particularly in East Florida. The timber is
very valuable, being stronger, more compact, and more durable,
than that of all the other species of pine: it is besides fine grained,
and susceptible of high polish. Its uses are diversified, and its
consumption great. But the value of the long-leaved pine does not
reside exclusively in its wood; it supplies nearly all the resinous
matter used in the United States in ship-building, with a large
residue for exportation; and in this view, its place can be supplied by
no other species, those which afford the same product being
dispersed through the woods, or collected in inaccessible places. In
the northern states, the lands, which at the commencement of their
settlements were covered with pitch pine, were exhausted in twenty-
five or thirty years, and for more than half a century have ceased to
furnish tar. The pine-barrens are of vast extent, and are covered
with trees of the forest growth; but they cannot all be rendered
profitable, from the difficulty of communicating with the sea.

Among the varieties which we can only enumerate, without an

attempt at description, are the New Jersey, Table Mountain, Gray,
Pond, and White Pine.

Spruces.—The American Silver Fir is found in the colder regions

of the states; towards the south, it is found only on the tops of the
Alleghanies. It flourishes best in a moist, sandy loam. Its height
rarely exceeds forty feet, with a diameter of twelve or fifteen inches.
The trunk tapers from a foot in diameter at the surface of the
ground to seven or eight inches at the height of six feet. When
standing alone and developing itself naturally, its branches, which
are numerous and thickly garnished with leaves, diminish in length
in proportion to their height, and form a pyramid of perfect
regularity. The bark is smooth and delicate. The leaves are six or
eight lines long, and are inserted singly on the sides and on the top
of the branches; they are narrow, rigid and flat, of a bright green
above, and a silvery white beneath; whence probably is derived the
name of the tree. The flowers appear in May, and are followed by
cones of a fragrant odor, nearly cylindrical, four or five inches long,
an inch in diameter, and always directed upwards. The seeds are
ripe in autumn, and if permitted to hang late will fall apart and
scatter themselves. The wood of the silver fir is light and slightly
resinous, and the heart is yellowish.

The Hemlock Spruce inhabits a similar tract of country, though

moist ground appears not to be the most favorable to its growth. It
arrives at the height of seventy or eighty feet, with a circumference
of six or nine feet, and is uniform for two thirds of its length. The
White and Black Spruce are varieties of this genus.

Cypresses.—The Cypress is a very interesting tree, from its

extraordinary dimensions, and the varied application of its wood. Its
northern boundary is Indian river, in Delaware, in latitude about
thirty-nine degrees. In proceeding southward, it becomes more
abundant in the swamps, and in Louisiana those parts of the
marshes where the cypress grows almost alone are called cypress
swamps, and they sometimes occupy thousands of acres. In the
swamps of the southern states and the Floridas, on whose deep,
miry soil a new layer of vegetable mould is every year deposited by
floods, the cypress attains its utmost developement. The largest
stocks are one hundred and twenty feet in height, and from twenty-
five to forty feet in circumference, above the conical base, which at
the surface of the earth is three or four times as large as the
continued diameter of the trunk: in felling them, the negroes are
obliged to raise themselves upon scaffolds five or six feet from the
ground. The base is usually hollow for three fourths of its bulk.
 Amidst the pine forests and savannas of the Floridas is seen here
and there a bog filled with cypresses, whose squalid appearance,
when they exceed eighteen or twenty feet in height, proves how
much they are affected by the barrenness of a soil which differs from
the surrounding only by a layer of vegetable mould, a little thicker
upon the quartzous sand. The summit of the cypress is not
pyramidical like that of the spruce, but is widely spread and even
depressed upon old trees. The foliage is open, light, and of a fresh
agreeable tint; each leaf is four or five inches long, and consists of
two parallel rows of leaflets upon a common stem. The leaflets are
small, fine, and somewhat arching, with the convex side outwards.
In autumn they change from a light green to a dull red, and are
shed soon after. This tree blooms in Carolina about the first of
February.

Among the resinous trees of the United States, the White Cedar
is one of the most interesting for the varied utility of its wood. North
of the river Connecticut, it is rare and little employed in the arts. In
the southern states, it is not met with beyond the river Santee, but it
is found, though not abundantly, on the Savannah: it is multiplied
only within these limits and to the distance of fifty miles from the
ocean. The white cedar is seventy or eighty feet high, and
sometimes more than three feet in diameter. When the trees are
close and compressed, the trunk is straight, perpendicular and
destitute of branches to the height of fifty or sixty feet. When cut, a
yellow transparent resin of an agreeable odor exudes, of which a
few ounces could hardly be collected in a summer from a tree of
three feet in circumference. The foliage is evergreen: each leaf is a
little branch numerously subdivided, and composed of small, acute,
imbricated scales.

The White Ash is one of the most interesting among the

American species for the qualities of its wood, and the most
remarkable for the rapidity of its growth and for the beauty of its
foliage. A cold climate seems most congenial to its nature. It is
everywhere called White Ash, probably from the color of its bark, by
which it is easily distinguished. The situations most favorable to this
tree are the banks of rivers and the edges and surrounding
acclivities of swamps. The white ash sometimes attains the height of
eighty feet, with a diameter of three feet, and is one of the largest
trees of the United States. The trunk is perfectly straight and often
undivided to the height of more than forty feet. On large stocks the
bark is deeply furrowed, and divided into small squares from one to
three inches in diameter. The leaves are twelve or fourteen inches
long, opposite and composed of three or four pair of leaflets
surmounted by an odd one. The leaflets are three or four inches
long, about two inches broad, of a delicate texture and an undulated
surface. Early in the spring they are covered with a light down,
which gradually disappears, and at the approach of summer they are
perfectly smooth, of a light green color above and whitish beneath.
It puts forth white or greenish flowers in the month of May, which
are succeeded by seeds that are eighteen lines long, cylindrical near
the base, and gradually flattened into a wing, the extremity of which
is slightly notched. They are united in bunches four or five inches
long, and are ripe in the beginning of autumn. The shoots of the two
preceding years are of a bluish gray color and perfectly smooth: the
distance between their buds sufficiently proves the vigor of their
growth.

Elm.—The White Elm inhabits an extensive tract of the states,

being found from Nova Scotia to the extremity of Georgia. It is also
found on the banks of the western rivers; growing in low, moist and
substantial soils. In the middle states, this tree stretches to a great
height, but does not approach the magnificence of vegetation which
it displays in the countries peculiarly adapted to its growth. In
clearing the primitive forests, a few stocks are sometimes left
standing; insulated in this manner, it appears in all its majesty,
towering to the height of eighty or one hundred feet, with a trunk
four or five feet in diameter, regularly shaped, naked, and insensibly
diminishing to the height of sixty or seventy feet, where it divides
itself into two or three primary branches. This species differs from
the red and European elm in its flowers and seeds; it blooms in the
month of April, previous to the unfolding of the leaves; the flowers
are very small, of a purple color, supported by short, slender
footstalks, and united in bunches at the extremity of the branches.
The Wahoo and the Red Elm are interesting species.

The American Chesnut sometimes attains the height of seventy

or eighty feet, with a circumference of fifteen or sixteen feet.
Though this tree nearly resembles that of Europe in its general
appearance, its foliage, its fruit and the properties of its wood, it is
treated by botanists as a distinct species. Its leaves are six or seven
inches long, one and a half broad, coarsely toothed, of an elongated
oval form, of a fine, brilliant color and of a firm texture, with
prominent parallel nerves beneath. It flowers in June. The fruit is
spherical, covered with fine prickles, and stored with two dark brown
seeds or nuts, about as large as the end of the finger. They are
smaller and sweeter than the wild chesnuts of Europe. They are ripe
about the middle of October. The wood is strong, elastic and capable
of enduring the succession of dryness and moisture.

Buttonwood or Sycamore.—Among trees with deciduous leaves,

none in the temperate zones, either in the old or new continent,
equal the dimensions of the planes. The species which we are about
to describe is not less remarkable for its amplitude, and for its
magnificent appearance, than the plane of Asia, whose majestic
form and extraordinary size were so much celebrated by the
ancients. In the Atlantic states, this tree is commonly known by the
name of Buttonwood, and sometimes in Virginia, by that of Water
Beach. On the banks of the Ohio, and in the states of Kentucky and
Tennessee, it is most frequently called Sycamore, and by some
persons Plane Tree. This tree, in no part of the United States, is
more abundant and vigorous than along the rivers of Pennsylvania
and Virginia; though in the more fertile valleys of the west, its
vegetation is still more luxuriant, especially on the banks of the Ohio
and of the rivers that flow into it.
 On the margin of the great rivers of the west, the buttonwood is
constantly found to be the loftiest and largest tree of the United
States. Often with a trunk of several feet in diameter, it begins to
ramify at the height of sixty or seventy feet, near the summit of
other trees; and often the base divides itself into several trunks,
equally vigorous and superior in diameter to any of the surrounding
trees. On a little island in the Ohio, fifteen miles above the mouth of
the Muskingum, Michaux mentions a buttonwood which, at five feet
above the ground, was forty feet and four inches in circumference,
and consequently more than thirteen feet in diameter. The American
species is generally thought, in Europe, to possess a richer foliage,
and to afford a deeper shade than the Asiatic plane: its leaves are of
a beautiful green, alternate, from five to fifteen inches broad, and
formed with more open angles than those of the plane of the
eastern continent.

Beech.—The species of Red Beech is almost exclusively confined

to the north-eastern parts of the United States. In the state of
Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, it is so abundant as often to
constitute extensive forests, the finest of which grow on fertile, level
or gently sloping lands which are proper for the culture of corn. The
red beech equals the white species in diameter, but not in height;
and as it ramifies nearer the earth and is more numerously divided,
it has a more massy summit and the appearance of more tufted
foliage. Its leaves are equally brilliant, a little larger and thicker, and
have longer teeth. Its fruit is of the same form, but is only half as
large, and is garnished with firmer and less numerous points.

The White Beech is one of the tallest and most majestic trees of
the American forests. It grows the most abundantly in the middle
and western states. On the banks of the Ohio, the white beech
attains the height of more than one hundred feet, with a
circumference of eight to eleven feet. In the forests, where these
trees vegetate in a deep and fertile soil, their roots sometimes
extend to a great distance even with the surface, and being
entangled so as to cover the ground, they embarrass the steps of
the traveller and render the land peculiarly difficult to clear. This tree
is more slender and less branchy than the red beech; but its foliage
is superb, and its general appearance magnificent.

Poplar or Tulip Tree.—This tree, which surpasses most others of

North America in height and in the beauty of its foliage and of its
flowers, is one of the most interesting from the numerous and useful
applications of its wood.

In the Atlantic states, especially at a considerable distance from

the sea, tulip trees are often seen seventy, eighty and one hundred
feet in height, with a diameter of eighteen inches to three feet. But
the western states appear to be the natural soil of this magnificent
tree, and here it displays its most powerful vegetation. M. Michaux
mentions a tulip tree, near Louisville, on the Ohio, which at five feet
from the ground was twenty-two feet six inches in circumference,
and whose elevation he judged to be from one hundred and twenty
to one hundred and forty feet. The flowers bloom in June or July.
They are large, brilliant, and on detached trees very numerous,
variegated with different colors: they have an agreeable odor, and
produce a fine effect. The fruit is composed of a great number of
thin, narrow scales, attached to a common axis, and forming a cone
two or three inches in length. Each cone consists of sixty or seventy
seeds, of which never more than a third part are productive. For ten
years before the tree begins to yield fruit, almost all the seeds are
unproductive, and on large trees, those from the highest branches
are the best.

Catalpa.—In the Atlantic states, the Catalpa begins to be found in

the forests, on the banks of the river Savannah, and west of the
Alleghanies, on those of the Cumberland, between the thirty-fifth
and thirty-sixth degrees of latitude. Farther south it is more
common, and abounds near the borders of all the rivers which
empty into the Mississippi, or which water West Florida. In the
regions where it grows most abundantly, it frequently exceeds fifty
feet in height, with a diameter from eighteen to twenty-four inches.
It is easily recognised by its bark, which is of a silver-gray color, and
but slightly furrowed, by its ample leaves, and by its wide-spreading
summit, disproportioned in size to the diameter of its trunk. It differs
from other trees also by the fewness of its branches. The flowers
which are collected in large bunches at the extremity of the
branches, are white, with violet and yellow spots, and are beautiful
and showy.

Magnolia Grandiflora.—‘Bartram and others,’ says Mr. Flint, ‘by

overrating the beauty of this tree, have caused, that when strangers
first behold it, their estimation of it falls too low. It has been
described, as a very large tree. We have seen it in Florida, where
Bartram saw it. We have seen it in its more congenial position for full
developement, the rich alluvions of Louisiana; and we have never
seen it compare with the sycamore, the cotton wood, or even the
ash, in point of size. It is sometimes a tall tree; often graceful in
form; but ordinarily a tree of fourth or fifth rate in point of
comparative size in the forest, where it grows. Its bark is smooth,
whitish, very thick, and something resembles that of the beech. The
wood is soft, and for aught we know, useless. The leaves strongly
resemble those of the orange tree, except in being larger, thicker,
and having a hoary yellowish down upon the under side. The upper
side has a perfect verdure, and a feel of smoothness, as if it was
oiled. The flowers are large, of a pure white, nearest resembling the
northern pond lily, though not so beautiful; and are, ordinarily, about
twice the size. The fragrance is indeed, powerful, but to us rather
sickly and offensive. We have felt, and we have heard others
complain of feeling a sensation of faintness, in going into a room,
where the chimney place was filled with these flowers. The tree
continues to put forth flowers for two months in succession, and
seldom displays many at a time.

‘We think, few have been in habits of examining flowering trees

more attentively than ourselves, and we contemplated this tree for
years in the season of flowers. Instead of displaying, as has been
represented, a cone of flowers, we have seldom seen a tree in
flower, which did not require some attention and closeness of
inspection, to discover where the flowers were situated among the
leaves. We have not been led to believe, that others possessed the
sense of smell more acutely, than ourselves. In advancing from
points, where these trees were not, to the pine forest, on the water
courses of which they are abundant, we have been warned of our
approach to them by the sense of smell, at a distance of something
more than half a mile; and we question, if any one ever perceived
the fragrance much farther, except by the imagination. The magnolia
is a striking tree, and an observer, who saw it for the first time,
would remark it, as such. But we have been unable to conceive
whence the extravagant misconceptions, respecting the size,
number, fragrance and beauty of its flowers, had their origin.

‘There are six or seven varieties among the laurels of the

magnolia tribe, some of which have smaller flowers than those of
the grandiflora, but much more delicate, and agreeably fragrant.
A beautiful evergreen of this class is covered in autumn with berries
of an intense blackness, and we remarked them in great numbers
about St. Francisville. The holly is a well-known and beautiful tree of
this class. But that one, which has struck us, as being the
handsomest of the family, is the laurel almond. It is not a large tree.
Its leaves strongly resemble those of the peach; and it preserves a
most pleasing green through the winter. Its flowers yield a delicious
perfume. It grows in families of ten or fifteen trees in a cluster.
Planters of taste in the valley of Red river, where it is common,
select the place of their dwelling amidst a cluster of these trees.’

The Bow Wood is a very striking tree, found about the upper
courses of the Washita, the middle regions of Arkansas, and
occasionally on the northern limits of Louisiana. Its leaves are large
and beautiful, and its fruit, which somewhat resembles a large
orange, is of a most inviting appearance, but is ‘the apple of Sodom
to the taste.’ It is considered by many the most splendid of all forest
trees.
 The China Tree is much cultivated in the south-western region of
the states, as an ornamental shade tree. Its leaves are long and
spiked, set in correspondence on each side of the stem. The verdure
is deep and brilliant. When in full flower, the top is one tuft of
blossoms. The tree is of most rapid growth, and its beautiful color
imparts delightful freshness to the landscape. After the fall of its
leaves, a profusion of reddish berries remain, and give at a little
distance the appearance of continuing in flower. This berry is a
narcotic, and stupefies the birds that eat of it.

The Papaw is seldom found north of the river Schuylkill, and is

extremely rare in the low, maritime parts of the southern states. It is
not uncommon in the bottoms which stretch along the rivers of the
middle states; but it is most abundant in the rich valleys intersected
by the western waters, where at intervals, it forms thickets
exclusively occupying several acres. In Kentucky and in the western
part of Tennessee, it is sometimes seen also in forests where the soil
is luxuriantly fertile; of which its presence is an infallible proof.

It seldom exceeds thirty feet in height, and a diameter of six or

eight inches, though it generally stops short at half this elevation.
The trunk is covered with a silver-gray bark, which is smooth and
finely polished. The leaves are alternate, five or six inches in length,
and of an elongated form, widening from the base to the summit.
They are of a fine texture, and the superior surface is smooth and
brilliant. The flowers are pendent, and of a purple hue. When the
fruit is ripe, which takes place towards the beginning of August, it is
about three inches long, one and a half thick, of a yellowish color,
and of an oval form, irregular and swelling into inequalities. Its pulp
is soft, and of an insipid taste, and it contains several large,
triangular stones.

Persimon.—The banks of the river Connecticut, below the forty-

second degree of latitude, may be uniformly considered as the
northern limit of this tree; but it is rendered rare in these parts by
the severity of the winter, while in New Jersey it is common, and still
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