The north American Sylva V03, Michaux 1819

,

THE

NORTH AMERICAN
SYLVA,
O R

A DESCRIPTION OF THE FOREST TREES
OF THE

UNITED STATES CANADA AND NOVA SCOTIA,
,

Considered particularly with respect to their use in the Arts,

and

their introduction into

TO -WHICH

Commerce

;

ADDED

IS

A DESCRIPTION OF THE MOST USEFUL OF THE EUROPEAN FOREST

TREES.

l56 COLOURED ENGRAVINGS.

ILLUSTRATED BY

Translated from the French of

F;
MemLer

ANDREW MICHAUX, HIO-K^^S"

of the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia

the Institute ofjrance;

Member

Philadelphia and Massachusetts; Honorary

Philosophical Societies of

;

Correspondent of

of the Agricultural Societies of Charleston

Member

,

S. C.

of the Historical, Literary

and

New York.

.

.

arbore sulcamus maria

arbore extedificamus

,

lerrasque admovemut,

tecta.

Plinii secondi: Nat.

VOL.

III.

PARIS,
PRINTED BY

C.

D'HAUTEL.

1819.

Hist.

,

lib. xir.


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THE

NORTH AMERICAN
SYLP^A.
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CABBAGE TREE.
Hexandria trigynia. Linn.

ChaM-EROPS PALMETO.

From

its

cauh arhoreo ; frondibus pal-

C.

matis, plicaiis,

stipitibiis

lofty height,

it

non

aculeatis.

this vegetable is considered in

the United States as a tree

Ocean, where

Palma?. Juss.

grows,

and upon the shores of the

;

it

is

called

belongs to the genus of the Palms

,

Cabbage Tree.

It

and is found farther

north than any other species in America, being

frrst

seen

about Cape Hatteras, in the 34th degree of latitude,

which, in the temperature of the winter, corresponds
with the 44th in Europe.

From Cape

to the extremity of East Florida,

the Gulf of Mexico
in

:

I

have no doubt that

Cuba and the Bahama

muda, which

is

Hatleras

Isles

more than 600

;

it

and probably

I

spreads

encircles

exists also

it

have seen

it

in Ber-

miles from the coast of

North America.
Farther south the Cabbage Tree
the United States
III.

,

to the

is

immediate

not confined
vicinity

,

as in

of the seaj
I

,

CABBAGE TREE.

2

on the

river St.

Lake George

,

I

John

from the

tance of 4o or 5o miles

A

in Florida

,

,

a

few miles above

caused two stocks to be felled at the dis-

trunk from 4^ to 5o

shore.

feet in height

,

of an

uniform

diameter, and crowned wdth a regular and tufted sum-

mit gives the Cabbage Tree a beautiful and majestic ap,

pearance.

Its leaves

and borne by
triangular

are of a brilliant green

petioles

and united

and breadth from

i

from
at

1

,

palmated

8 to 24 inches long, nearly

the edges

foot to 6 feet,

;

they vary in length

and are so arranged

that the smallest occupy the centre of the

summit, and

the largest the circumference. Before their develope-

ment they

are folded like a fan

outside sticks break off and

,

and

fall,

rounded with filaments woven

as they

open the
,

leaving the base sur-

into a coarse

and flimsy

russet web.

The base of the undisclosed bundle of leaves
compact and tender;

it

is

eaten with

oil

and resembles the artichoke and the cabbage

whence

is

derived the

name of Cabbage

is

white,

and vinegar,
in taste,

Tree. But to

destroy a vegetable which has been a century in grow-

ing

,

to obtain three or four

neither richly nutritious
palate

,

ounces of a substance

nor peculiarly agreeable to the

would be pardonable only

in a desert

destined to remain uninhabited for ages.
prodigality of the

Kentucky

1

works of Nature, the

killed the Buffalo,

5 hundred

pounds

,

which was

With

similar

first settlers

of

an animal weighing 12 or

for the pleasure of eating

its


CABBAGE TREE.

3

tongue, and abandoned the carcase to the beasts of the
wilderness.

The Cabbage Tree bears long
ish flowers
fruit

,

about the

of

size

extremely porous
:

its

inesculent

wood of this

tree,

though

preferred to every other for

is

,

,

a pea.

In the Southern States the

wharves

chisters of small green-

which are succeeded by a black

,

superiority consists in being secure

injury by sea-worms, which, during the

from

summer com,

mit such ravages in structures accessible to their attacks

but

when exposed

to be alternately

flowdng and ebbing of the tide

,

it

decays as speedily as

other wood. This use of the Cabbage Tree

minishing
distant

its

when

of the United

numbers
it

,

;

wet and dry in the

is

rapidly di-

and probably the period

will cease to exist within the

is

not

boundaries

States.

In the war of Independance the Cabbage Tree was

found eminently proper for constructing

on the passage

closes without splitting

The growth and developement

forts

,

as it

of the ball.

of the

Palms have oc-

cupied the attention of distinguished botanists, to whose

memoirs the reader
mation.

The

courage

its

is

referred for

more

accurate infor-

tardy growth of this species will always dis-

propagation.

PLATE
\A Cabbage Tree with

its

fruity

CI.


PRIDE OF INDIA.
DecanJrlamonogynJa, Linn.

Melia Azedarach, M.
This tree

is

its

Upinnatis:

foliis

a native of Persia,

flowers and the elegance of
in request in

Meliae. Juss.

For the beauty

foliage,

it

of

southern climates for embellishing towns

and adorning the environs of

dwellings.

propagated

It is

for this purpose in India, in the Isles of France

Bourbon

,

in Syria

,

Spain

,

Portugal

,

Italy

and

and the south-

New World

ern departments of France. In the

found in

its

has long been

it

is

towns of the West Indies and of South

several

America and on the Northern Continent
;

so abun-

it is

dant and so easily multiplied in the maritime parts of
the Southern Slates
ral productions.

,

as to

be ranked among their natu-

This claim

upon our

forced by the valuable properties of

attention

its

is

en-

bark and of

its

wood.

The Pride

of India rises to the height of 3o or 4o feet,

with a diameter of i5 or 20 inches
alone,
itself

visually rests at a

it

into a spacious

green colour

smooth

flowers

,

,

,

large

,

which form

of the branches

,

but,

when

smaller elevation

summit.

Its

denticulated

,

and

,

diffuses

and composed of

leaflets.

axillary clusters at the

produce a

standing

leaves are of a dark

doubly pinnate

,

acuminate

;

fine effect,

The

lilac

extremity

and exhale

a de-


PI.102

Pride of

Me ha

Tiul

ax cf/a/ -at •/

.



,

PRIDE OF INDIA.
llclous odour.

lowish

The

5

round and

ripe seeds are large,

particularly

by the red-breasts

tion to Ihe South

which

,

,

in their annual migra-

,

im-

after gorging themselves

moderately; are sometimes found stupilied by
cotic

yel-

they are sought with avidity by certain birds

;

nar-

its

power. The venomous principle which resides in

this tree

the itch

taken notice of by Avicenna, an Arabian

is

Physician

who

,

flourished about the year 980. In Persia

cured with an ointment

is

made by pounding

leaves with lard.

its

The Pride of

India prospers in a dry and sandy soil,

and magnificent stocks
ton and Savannah.
flowers,
lightful

is

are seen in the streets of Charles-

Its foliage

,

which

,

developed early in the spring

as well as the
,

affords a de-

refreshment to the eye, and yields a shelter

from the fervour of the sun during the intemperate
son.

It

grows with such

attains the

heght

rapidity, that

from the seed

is

chiefly

remarked

in stocks less

than ten years of age, in which the concentrical

it

more

circles

distant than in any other tree. Like the Locust,

possesses the valuable property of converting

into perfect

w ood

in the earliest stages

of

its

consequently

may be employed almost

of a reddish colour

that of the

the

Red

Ash

Bay, the

:

,

and

is

entire.

sap

its

growth

stock 6 inches in diameter has only an inch of sap

is

it

of 12 or i5feet in four years. This

surprising vegetation

are

sea-

,

;

a

and

The wood

similarly organized

it receives a less brilliant polish

with
than

Wild Cherry, the Maple and the Sweet

prideofindia:

6

Gum

;

but this defect

is

unimportant in a country -which

possesses the species just mentioned

cure Mahogany.

The Pride of

able and strong to be useful

and can

India

is

in building

,

easily

pro-

sufficiently

dur-

and

it

will pro-

bably be found adapted to various mechanical uses
has already been employed for puUies which
,

are

made

of

assured that

Elm
it is

,

and

in

America

;

it

Europe

in

of Ash. I have

been

excellent fuel.

This succinct description deserves attention in the

southern parts of North America, and in those countries
of

Europe where the pride

of India

is

considered as an

ornamental rather than as an viseful tree. Fields exhaust-

ed by cultivation and abandoned might be profitably
covered with

it.

PLATE

CII.

A leaf of a third part of the natural
of the natural size. Fig. i

,

size.

Fig.

Seeds of the natural

i

,

size.

Flowers



Fi.iod

PisltU'ia

Troo


vww\wvw\vwwx\

PISTACIA TREE.
Dioecia pentendria. Linn.

Therebeiithacae. Juss.

PiSTACiA YERA. P. folUs impan-pinnatis ; foUolis subofaiisy
recurvis, coruceis.

The
is

Tree

Pistacia

particularly

is

indigenous to Asia Minor and

abundant in

Syria. It equals

,

and some-

times exceeds, 25 or 3o feet in height, and has heavy,

crooked limbs clad in a thick, greyish bark, and large
leaves
lets

the

,

composed of one or two

pair of coriaceous leaf-

with a terminal odd one. This vegetable belongs to
class of dioecious plants

The barren

different stocks.

hardly apparent

and of

,

and the

a greenish

whose

sexes are

fertile

ones are likewise small
consists of thin-

colour. Its fruit

shelled oval-acuminate nuts

,

borne by

flowers are minute and

about the

size

of an olive

,

which are collected in bunches, and are commonly
yielded in profusion.

They

are of a

more

vour than the hazel-nut or almond

,

agreeable fla-

and are annually

exported to those parts of Europe and Asia where the
tree does not flourish.

The

Tree succeeds in dry, calcarious

Pistacia

grounds

,

but shuns a sandy and a humid

soil.

,

stony

In form-

ing plantations care must be taken to possess trees of
different sexes

possible

;

,

without which the fructification

one male should be

is

im-

allotted to five or six fe-


PISTACIA TREE.

8

males, and to avoid mistake, young grafted stocks should

be procured or suckers from the foot of an old
,

The wood

is

hard

resinous

,

,

tree.

excellent for fuel

,

and

proper for economical purposes.
According to Pliny, pistich-nuts were

first

brought to

Rome about

the reign of Tiberius, by Vitellius, Gover-

nor of Syria

,

Italy at the

and probably the tree was introduced into

same period.

It

has long been cultivated in

Spain, Portugal and the South of France, and,

when

protected by a wall and favoured with a southern exposure

,

it

yields fruit

the Orange Tree

mate with the

,

even

at Paris. It is less delicate

and prospers

Olive.

Though

it

in the

same

offers less

ducements than the Olive to attempt
in

West Tennessee and in

its

soil

than

and

cli-

powerful inintroduction

the Southern States

,

it

would

afford an agreeable addition to the luxuries of the table.

PLATE cm.

A branch (vith fmil of the natural
flower. Fig. i, A fertile flower. Fig. 3
posed. Fig. 4,

size.
,

Fig.

i

,

A barren

Fruit with the nut ex^

^ nut with the kernel exposed. Fig. 5, A ker-

nel without the pellicle.



J%v.-a

,iW

J. 2: J.^/v

American Cliesnut
( (uctanea

veA-ai

.',;,//.


,,
;

kvwvwwvv^

AMERICAN CHESNUT.
Monoecia polyandria. Linm.

CastANEA VESCA.

Amcntacae. Juss.

C. foliis lanceolatis

,

acuminatb-serratis

utrinque glabris; nucibus dimidio supeiiore

The Chesnut does not
gree of latitude.

It is

venture beyond the 44th de-

New

it is

New Hampshire between

found in

the 43d and the 44*^ degrees
the winter that

less

villosls.

,

but such

common than

Jersey and Pennsylvania.

It is

is

the severity of

in Connecticut

most multiplied

in

the mountainous districts of the Carolinas and of Georgia

,

and abounds on the Cumberland Mountains and in

East Tennessee.

The

coolness of the

summer and

the mildness of the

winter in these regions are favourable to the Chesnut
the face of the country, also
tree

which prefers the

mediate

vicinity

,

where the

though deep enough

The Chesnut of

the Old

a

perfectly adapted to a

mountains or their im-

soil in

to sustain

its

World

pansion in similar situations

on Mount Etna of

is

,

sides of

:

general

attains

gravelly

its

greatest ex-

is

said to exist

an example

Chesnut 160

is

perfect developement.

feet in

circumference

or about 53 feet in diameter, and large enough to shelter
100
is

men on horseback beneath its branches

hollowed by time almost to the bark

several others
III.

more than 76

:

;

but

its

near

it

trunk
stand

feet in circumference.

2

At


AMERICAN CHESNUT.

lO

Sancerre in the Department of the Cher, 120 miles from
Paris

there

,

ground,

is

a Chesnut

more than
its

600 years ago

;

and though

,

1000 years old, its trunk

from the

6 feet

at

,

3o feet in circumference

is

called the Great Chesnut

and

which

it is

is still

it

was

supposed to be

perfectly sound,

branches are annually laden with

have

fruit. I

never met with instances of such extraordinary growth
in the

United States, but the American species

ably susceptible of an equal developement
forests of

North Carolina

,

it is

,

commonly

I have

measured

several stocks

which

,

in the

,

as tall

large as the corresponding species in those of

prob-

is

since

and

as

Europe

;

from

at 6 feet

the ground, were i5 or 16 feet in circumference, and

which equalled the

The Chesnut

is

loftiest trees in stature.

a stranger to the Province of

Maine

the State of Vermont and a great part of Gennessee

the maritime parts of Virginia
gia

,

to the Carolinas

the rioridas and Louisiana as far as the

,

,

,

,

to

Geor-

mouth

of

the Ohio.

Though the American Chesnut
of

Europe

in

its

nearly resembles that

general appearance

and the properties of its wood

,

,

it is

its

foliage

,

its

fruit,

treated by botanists

as a distinct species. Its leaves are 6 or 7 inches long

inch and a half broad coarsely toothed
,

oval

ture

form
,

,

,

,

an

of an elongated

of a fme brilliant colour and of a firm tex-

with prominent parallel nerves beneath. The bar-

ren flowers are whitish

grouped on

axillary

,

unpleasant to the smell, and

peduncles 4 or 5 inches long.

The


,

AMERICAN CHESNUT.
fertile

aments are

cuous.

The

similarly disposed

,

ji

but

less

conspi-

covered with fine prickles,

fruit is spherical,

and stored with two dark brown seeds or nuts, about
end

as large as the

on one

of the finger, convex

side,

on the other, and coated round the extremity

flattened

with whitish down. They are smaller and sweeter than
the wild chesnuts of Europe

and are sold

,

New York,

bushel in the markets of

at 3 dollars a

Philadelphia and

Baltimore.

The wood

is

strong, elastic

,

and capable of enduring

the succession of dryness and moisture.

renders

it

especially valuable for posts

be made of trees

less

Its durability

which should

,

than lo inches in djameter and

charred before they are planted in the earth. In Connecticut

,

Pennsylvania and a part of Virginia

ferred for

For

rails

,

shingles this

though

it

and is

said to last

wood

is

Red Oak,

wares
is

;

are so

,

open

and
that

the European species

employed

it is

more than

also pre-

fifty years.

superior to any species of Oak,

has the same defect of warping.

tensively used for staves

the

,

its

it is

pores

in Italy to contain

It is

like

not exthose of

proper only for dry

which

,

,

is

more compact

wines and brandy.

Throughout France and the South of Europe, young
Chesnuts are almost exclusively chosen for hoops

,

and

they are proved to be better adapted to this important
use than any other species

humidity of the
at

New York

cellar. I

,

as

they

last

longer in the

have been informed by coopers

and Philadelphia that the American Ches-


AMERICAN CHESNUT.

12

nut

is

too brittle for hoops

if such is

:

the fact

more probable reason

is

remain firmly attached

that

it is

like the

,

the ends but requires to be
,

the Euro-

,

flexibility.

A

not strong enough

to

pean species has the advantage of superior

Hickory

bound with

by crossing

,

osier

which

,

is

an additional labour and expense.

The Chesnut
used in the

The

coal

little

esteemed for fuel

of the United States

Europe

species in

burns.

is

cities

is

with

it is filled

excellent

,

:

air

,

like

and

is

not

the kindred

and snaps

as it

and on some of the moun-

of Pennsylvania where the Chesnut abounds, the

tains

woods

neighbourhood of the forges have been

in the

transformed into copses

yeap

,

which are cut every sixteen

ior the furnaces. This period

them

,

summer

as the

is

is

warmer

sufficient to

in

renew

America than in

Europe the atmosphere more moist and consequently
,

,

vegetation
ginia

,

more

rapid.

The proprietors of forges

in the upper part of the CaroHnas

Holston

,

in Vir-

and on the

should imitate the example by establishing

copses of Chesnut and Oak. Besides the inducement of
private gain, this

benefit

,

measure would be attended with public

by the economy of fuel

ing scarcer and

more

costly.

,

which

cut for

hoops

,

and the

becom-

the

Rock

this object, for rea-

it.

Chesnut copses are considered
valuable species of properly

daily

Among the Oaks,

Chesnut Oak should be selected for
sons indicated in describing

is

:

in

France

as the

most

every seven years they are

largest

branches serve for vine-


AMERICAN CHESNUT.
props

at

;

i3

the end of fourteen years they furnish hoops

for large tubs

,

and

the age of twenty- five years they

at

and for

are proper for posts

light timber.

Lands of a

middling quality, which wovdd not have produced a rent

of more than 4 dollars an acre

,

in this

way

yield a

mean

annual revenue of from 16 to 24 dollars.

Different
in the
is

methods

New

are pursued in forming the copses

preferred

After the ground has been carefidly loos-

:

ened with the plough and the harrow,
six feet apart

,

in

in diameter are

chesnut

;

Dictionary of Natural History the following

which holes about

formed

at

lines are

drawn

a foot in depth

the distance of five

and

feet.

A

placed in each corner of the holes, and co-

is

vered with three inches of earth. As the

soil

has been

thoroughly subdued the nuts will spring and strike root
,

with

facility.

plants are

thriving

Early in the second year three of the young

removed from each hole

is

left.

The

,

and only the most

third or fourth year,

when

the

branchesbegin to interfere with each other, every second
tree

is

suppressed.

To

insure

its

success, the plantation

should be begun in March or April, with nuts that have

been kept in the
vegetable

cellar

mould, and

during the winter in sand or

that have already

begun to ger-

minate.

The European Chesnut would be a
to

many

valuable acquisition

parts of the United States. This tree produces

the nuts called Mairons de Lyon, which are four times
as large as the wild chesnuts

of America

,

and which

are


AMERICAN CHESNUT.

l4

sent

from the

and

to the north of

vicinity of

Lyons

Europe

to every part ol

ported also to the West Indies. Kentucky,
nessee

,

France

they w^ere formerly ex-

;

and the upper part of

Virginia

West Ten-

and the Caroli-

nas are particularly interested in the introduction of
this species. It already exists in the nurseries

delphia and

New

York, and

it is

of Phila-

only necessary to pro-

cure a few stocks to furnish grafts for young Wild

Chesnuts transplanted from the woods or reared in the
nursery.

The Chesnuts may be
insertion of a shoot.

ping a

grafted

by inoculation or the

The common method

branch of the wild tree remo^dng
,

is

by lop-

a girdle of the

bark near the end, from an inch to three inches wide,

and replacing

by another from

a limb of the cultivated

stock of corresponding diameter.

The lower edge of the

new

covering

it

is

exactly adjusted to the natural bark,

but a portion of the limb
is

scraped

sing,

down

so as to

and the whole

is

is left

form

exposed above

,

which

a species of tent or dres-

protected from the weather by a

coating of clay.

PLATE

CIV.

Leaves and aments of the natural
fmit. Fig. 1

,

A chesjiut.

size.

Fig.

i

,

Full-grown

.

ri.io6.

Climcapiii
Casta?ir(j vuvnltv.