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. Ageneral 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 Ihave 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, Icontemplated 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. Abeautiful 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 more so in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the southern states; it abounds, also, in the western forests. The persimon varies surprisingly in size in different soils and climates. In New Jersey it is not more than half as large as in the more southern states, where, in favorable situations, it is sometimes sixty feet in height, and eighteen or twenty inches in diameter. The trunk of a full-grown tree is covered with a deeply-furrowed blackish bark, from which a greenish gum exudes, without taste or smell. The leaves are from four to six inches in length, oblong, entire, of a fine green above; in autumn they are often variegated with black spots. This tree belongs to the class of vegetables whose sexes are confined to different stocks. Both the barren and fertile flowers are greenish and not strikingly apparent. They put forth in June or July. The ripe fruit is about as large as the thumb, of a reddish complexion, round, fleshy, and furnished with six or eight semi-oval stones, slightly swollen at the sides, and of a dark purple color. It is not eatable till it has been touched with frost, by which the skin is shrivelled, and the pulp, which before was hard and extremely harsh to the taste, is softened and rendered palatable. The fruit is so abundant in the southern states, that a tree often yields several bushels. In the south, it adheres to the branches long after the shedding of the leaf, and when it falls, it is eagerly devoured by wild and domestic animals.

Dogwood and Red Bud.—These are plants between shrubs and trees. The former has a heart-shaped leaf, and an umbrella-shaped top. In spring, it adorns itself with brilliant, white flowers, and in autumn with fine scarlet berries. The latter is the first blossoming shrub on the Ohio; and its blossoms there resemble those of the peach tree. They are scattered every where through the wood, and impart a charm to the whole descent of the ‘beautiful river.’ The two are the most common, as they are the most beautiful shrubs of the great western valley.

Mountain Laurel.—This is a large shrub, which indifferently bears the name of Mountain Laurel, Laurel, Ivy, and Calico Tree. It abounds in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Proceeding thence south-west, it is found along the steep banks of all the rivers which rise in the Alleghanies; but it is observed to become less common in following these streams from their source, towards the Ohio and Mississippi on one side, and towards the ocean on the other. It is rare in Kentucky and in West Tennessee, and in the southern states it disappears entirely when the rivers enter the low country, where the pine-barrens commence.

In favorable situations, this shrub grows to the height of eighteen or twenty feet, with a diameter of three inches. The flowers put forth from May to July, are destitute of odor, and disposed in clusters at the extremity of the branches: in general they are of a beautiful rose color, and sometimes of a pure white. They are always numerous, and their brilliant effect is heightened by the richness of the surrounding foliage.

The Palmetto inhabits the southern states, as far north as Cape Hatteras. It is from forty to fifty feet in height, crowned with a tufted summit, which gives it a beautiful and majestic appearance. The Coral Tree is a brilliant and gaudy shrub, native of the open forests of the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida; it grows to the height of two or three feet. The Snow Berry is an ornamental shrub, inhabiting the banks of the upper Missouri. In the autumn, when the large bunches of ivory or wax-like berries are matured, the appearance is said to be extremely beautiful.

Fruit Trees.—The Chickasaw Plum is common from thirty-four degrees north latitude, to the gulf of Mexico. It is found in great abundance. Prairie plums are found in great quantities on the hazel prairies of Illinois and Missouri. When cultivated under favorable circumstances, the Osage plum is delicious. Crab apple shrubs are found in great quantities in the middle regions of the central valley. Their blossoms resemble those of the cultivated apple tree, and the tree is useful as a stock in which the cultivated apple and pear may be grafted. The Mulberry is rare in the Atlantic states, but abounds in every part of the Mississippi valley. Its wood is valuable, and scarcely less durable than that of the locust.

Vine.—The common grape vine is diffused through all the climates. It frequently happens that we see, in the rich lands, vines of the size of a man’s body, perpendicularly attached at the top to branches sixty or eighty feet from the ground, and at great lateral distance from the trunk of the tree. It is common to puzzle a man first brought into these woods, by asking him to account for the manner in which a vine of prodigious size has been able to rear itself to such a height. There can be no doubt that the vine in this case is coeval with the tree; that the tree, as it grew, supported the vine; and that the vine was carried from the trunk with the projection of the lateral branch, until, in the lapse of years, this singular appearance is the result. In many bottoms, half the trees are covered with these vines. In the deep forest, on the hills, in the barrens, in the hazel prairies, and in the pine woods, every form and size of the grape are found.

Of the plants of the winter grape, which so generally clings to the trees in the alluvial forests, probably not one in fifty bears any fruit at all. The fruit when produced is a small circular berry not unlike the wild black cherry. It is austere, sour, and unpleasant, until it has been softened by the winter frosts; but it is said, when fermented by those who have experience in the practice, to make a tolerable wine. The summer grape is found on the rolling barrens and the hazel prairies. It is more than twice the size of the winter grape, is ripe in the first month in autumn, and, when matured under the full influence of the sun, is a pleasant fruit. It grows in the greatest abundance, but is too dry a grape to be pressed for wine. The muscadine grape is seldom seen north of thirty-four degrees. More southerly, it becomes abundant, and is found in the deep alluvial forests, clinging to tall trees. The fruit grows in more scanty clusters than that of other grapes. Like other fruits, they fall as they ripen, and furnish a rich treat to bears and other animals that feed on them; they are of the size of a plum, of a fine purple black, with a thick tough skin, tasting not unlike the rind of an orange; the pulp is deliciously sweet, but is reputed unwholesome. The pine woods grape has a slender, bluish purple vine, that runs on the ground among the grass. It ripens in the month of June; is large, cone-shaped, transparent, with four seeds, reddish purple, and is fine fruit for eating.

Cane.—The Cane grows to the height of twenty or thirty feet on the lower courses of the Mississippi, Arkansas and Red rivers. Its leaves are dagger-shaped, long and narrow, and of a beautiful green. It grows in masses so compact that the smallest sparrow would find it difficult to fly in the intervals. Aman could not make his way through a cane brake, at a rate more rapid than three miles a day.

Flax.—A species of flax was found by Lewis and Clarke growing in the valleys of the Rocky mountains, and on the banks of the Missouri. The bark possesses the same kind of tough fibres as the common flax, and the Indians are in the habit of making lint and gun-waddings of it.

Berries.—The gooseberry is indigenous to the United States, and in the western parts grows to great size. The red raspberry is also indigenous. Whortleberries, and blackberries high and creeping, are found in prodigious abundance; many of the prairies are red with strawberries. The cranberry is a native of the country, growing in morasses and rich bottom through its whole extent. Large cranberry swamps occur in New Jersey.

Other Plants.—There are many annual and evergreen creepers in the United States, of various kinds, form and foliage. The grasses are various and luxuriant. In the prairies they are rank and coarse; the Atlantic country is covered with a fine sward. The rush is a useful herbaceous plant, which grows on bottoms of an elevation between that of the cane brakes and the deeply-flooded lands. The pea-vine covers the richer soil of the forest lands; it is small and fibrous. The wild rice is a plant of great importance, found on the marshy margins of the northern lakes, and in the shallow waters of the upper courses of the Mississippi. One of the most striking of the forest productions is the wax-plant, which is nearly entirely of a snow-white, and resembles the most delicate wax preparation. It grows in rich shady woods, and is much prized.

The common kinds of water-plants are found in the marshy grounds and ponds; particularly a very beautiful and fragrant lily. This closely resembles the European water-lily. One of this genus is said to be unrivalled for size and beauty. Dr.Barton considers it to be the same as the sacred bean of Judea, and mentions it as abundant in Philadelphia, but rare otherwise, and refusing propagation. Mr.Flint found it in the southern states, and says that it attains great splendor on the lakes and stagnant waters of the Arkansas. There is a large variety of parasitic plants in the states, the most remarkable of which is the long moss.

It will be observed that in these chapters on the natural history of the United States, we have only intended to describe the most conspicuous objects, without reference to scientific arrangement. Amere scientific catalogue of the natural productions of our country would occupy all the space we have devoted to the subject, and possess no interest or attraction for the general reader.