sea-fish, which are brought from the northern part of the United
States in vessels so constructed as to keep them in a continual
supply of water. The ships engaged in this kind of traffic load,
in return, with rice and cottons, the greater part of which is
re-exported into Europe, the freight {10} being always higher in
the northern than in the southern states. The cotton wool that they
keep in the north for their own consumption is more than sufficient
to supply the manufacturies, being but very few: the overplus is
disposed of in the country places, where the women fabricate coarse
cottons for the use of their families.
Wood is extravagantly dear at Charleston; it costs from forty to
fifty shillings[2] a _cord_, notwithstanding forests, which are
almost boundless in extent, begin at six miles, and even at a less
distance from the town, and the conveyance of it is facilitated by
the two rivers at the conflux of which it is situated; on which
account a great number of the inhabitants burn coals that are brought
from England.
As soon as I recovered from my illness I left Charleston, and went
to reside in a small plantation about ten miles from the town, where
my father had formed a botanic garden. It was there he collected and
cultivated, with the greatest care, the plants that he found in the
long and painful travels that his ardent love for science had urged
him to make, almost every year, in the different quarters of America.
Ever animated with a desire of serving the country he was in, he
conceived that the climate of South Carolina {11} must be favourable
to the culture of several useful vegetables of the old continent,
and made a memorial of them, which he read to the Agricultural
Society at Charleston. A few happy essays confirmed him in his
opinion, but his return to Europe did not permit him to continue his
former attempts. On my arrival at Carolina I found in this garden
a superb collection of trees and plants that had survived almost a
total neglect for nearly the space of four years. I likewise found
there a great number of trees belonging to the old continent, that
my father had planted, some of which were in the most flourishing
state. I principally remarked two _ginkgo bilobas_, that had not
been planted above seven years, and which were then upward of thirty
feet in height; several _sterculia platanifolia_, which had yielded
seed upward of six years; in short, more than a hundred and fifty
_mimosa illibrissin_, the first plant of which came from Europe about
ten inches in diameter. I set several before my return to France,
this tree being at that time very much esteemed for its magnificent
flowers. The Agricultural Society at Carolina are now in possession
of this garden: they intend keeping it in order, and cultivating the
useful vegetables belonging to the old continent, which, {12} from
the analogy of the climate, promise every success.[3] I employed
the remainder of the autumn in making collections of seed, which
I sent to Europe; and the winter, in visiting the different parts
of Low Carolina, and in reconnoitring the places where, the year
following, I might make more abundant harvests, and procure the
various sorts that I had not been able to collect during the autumn.
On this account I must observe, that in North America, and perhaps
more so than in Europe, there are plants that only inhabit certain
places; whence it happens that a botanist, in despite of all his zeal
and activity, does not meet with them for years; whilst another, led
by a happy chance, finds them in his first excursion. I shall add,
in favour of those who wish to travel over the southern part of the
United States for botanical researches, that the epoch of the flower
season begins in the early part of February; the time for gathering
the seeds of herbaceous plants in the month of August; and on the 1st
of October for that of forest trees.
{13} CHAP. II
_Departure from Charleston for New York.--A short description
of the town.--Botanic excursions in New Jersey.--Remark
upon the_ Quercus tinctoria _or Black Oak, and the nut
trees of that country.--Departure from New York for
Philadelphia.--Abode._
In the spring of the year 1802 I left Charleston to go to New York,
where I arrived after a passage of ten days. Trade is so brisk between
the northern and southern states, that there is generally an
opportunity at Charleston to get into any of the ports of the northern
states you wish. Several vessels have rooms, tastefully arranged and
commodiously fitted up, for the reception of passengers, who every
year go in crowds to reside in the northern part of the United States,
during the unhealthy season, and return to Charleston in the month of
November following. You pay for the passage from forty to fifty {14}
piastres. Its duration varies according to the weather. It is
generally about ten days, but it is sometimes prolonged by violent
gusts of wind which casually spring up on doubling Cape Hatras.
New York, situated at the conflux of the rivers from the east and
north, is much nearer to the sea than Philadelphia. Its harbour being
safe, and of an easy access in all seasons, makes it very advantageous
to the city, and adds incessantly to its extent, riches, and
population. The town consists of more than 50,000 souls, among whom
are reckoned but a very small number of negroes. Living is not so dear
there as at Charleston; one may board for eight or ten piastres a
week.
During my stay at New York I frequently had an opportunity of seeing
Dr. Hosack, who was held in the highest reputation as a professor of
botany. He was at that time employed in establishing a botanical
garden, where he intended giving a regular course of lectures. This
garden is a few miles from the town: the spot of ground is well
adapted, especially for plants that require a peculiar aspect or
situation. Mr. Hosack is the physician belonging to the hospital and
prison, by virtue of which he permitted me to accompany him in one of
his visits, and I had by that {15} means an opportunity of seeing
those two establishments. The hospital is well situated, the buildings
are extensive, the rooms lofty and well aired; but the beds appeared
to me very indifferent; they are composed of a very low bedstead,
edged with board about four inches wide, and furnished with a
mattress, or rather a pallias, filled with oat straw, not very thick,
coarse brown linen sheets, and a rug. The prison is remarkable for the
decorum, the arrangement, the cleanliness that reigns there, and more
especially for the willingness with which the prisoners seem to work
at the different employments allotted for them.
Each seemed to be tasked according to his abilities or profession;
some were making shoes, and others manufacturing cut-nails. These
nails, made by the help of a machine, have no point, and cannot be
used for the same purposes as others wrought in the usual way;
notwithstanding, a great many people prefer them for nailing on roofs
of houses. They pretend that these nails have not the inconvenience of
starting out by reason of the weather, as it frequently happens with
others; as upon the roofs of old houses a great number of nails may be
seen {16} which do not appear to have been driven in more than half or
one-third of their length.
During my stay at New York, I took a botanical excursion into New
Jersey, by the river side, towards the north. This part of New Jersey
is very uneven; the soil is hard and flinty, to judge of it by the
grass which I saw in places pulled up. Large rocks, of a chalky
nature, as if decayed, appeared even with the ground upon almost all
the hills. Notwithstanding, we observed different species of trees;
among others, a variety of the red oak, the acorn of which is nearly
round; the white oak, _quercus alba_; and, among the different species
or varieties of nut trees, the _juglans tomentosa_, or mocker-nut, and
the _juglans minima_, or pig-nut. In the low and marshy places, where
it is overflowed almost all the year, we found the _juglans-hickery_,
or shell-barked hickery; the _quercus prinus aquatica_, which belongs
to the series of _prunus_, and is not mentioned in the “_History of
Oaks_.”[4] The valleys are planted with ash trees, palms, _cornus
florida’s_ poplars, and _quercus tinctoria’s_, known in the country by
the name of the black oak.
The _quercus tinctoria_ is very common in all the {17} northern
states; it is likewise found to the west of the Alleghany mountains,
but is not so abundant in the low part of Georgia and the two
Carolinas. The leaves of the lower branches assume a different form
from those of the higher branches; the latter are more sharp and
pointed. The plate given in the History of Oaks only represents the
leaves of the lower branches, and the shape of them when quite young.
Amid these numerous species and varieties of oaks, the leaves of which
vary, as to form, according to their age, which generally confounds
them with each other; notwithstanding, there are certain
characteristic signs by which the _quercus tinctoria_ may be always
known. In all the other species the stalk, fibres, and leaves
themselves are of a lightish green, and towards the autumn their
colour grows darker, and changes to a reddish hue; on the contrary,
the stalk, fibres and leaves of the black oak are of a yellowish cast,
and apparently very dry; again, the yellow grows deeper towards the
approach of winter. This remark is sufficient not to mistake them;
notwithstanding, there is another still more positive, by which this
species may be recognised in winter, when even it has lost its leaves;
that is, by the bitter taste of its bark, and the yellow colour {18}
which the spittle assumes when chewed. The bark of the _quercus
cinerea_ has nearly the same property; and, finding this, I made an
observation of it to Dr. Bancroft, who was at Charleston in the winter
of 1802. Upon the whole, it is impossible to be mistaken concerning
these two kinds of oaks; for the latter grows only in the dryest parts
of the southern states. It is very rarely more than four inches in
diameter, and eighteen feet in height; its leaves are lanceolated: on
the other hand, the _quercus tinctoria_ grows upwards of eighty feet
in height, and its leaves are in several lobes, and very long.
Among the species of acorns that I sent over from the northern states
of America to France, and those which I brought with me in the spring
of 1803, were some of the black oak, which have come up very
abundantly in the nursery at Trianon. Mr. Cels has upwards of a
hundred young plants of them in his garden.
The species and variety of nut trees natural to the United States are
also extremely numerous, and might be the subject of a useful and
interesting monography; but that work would never be precisely
accurate provided the different qualities of those trees are not
studied in the country itself. I have {19} seen some of those nut
trees which, by the leaves and blossom, appeared of the same species,
when the shells and nuts seemed to class them differently. I have, on
the contrary, seen others where the leaves and blossoms were
absolutely different, and the fruit perfectly analogous. It is true
there are some, where the fruit and blossom are systematically regular
at the same time, but very few. This numerous species of nut trees is
not confined to the United States; it is remarked in every part of
North America from the northern extremity of the United States as far
as Mississipi; that is to say, an extent of more than eight hundred
leagues from north to south, and five hundred from east to west. I
brought over with me some new nuts of six different species, which
have come up exceedingly well, and which appear not to have been yet
described.
I left New York the 8th of June 1802, to go to Philadelphia; the
distance is about a hundred miles. The stages make this journey some
in a day, others in a day and a half; the fare is five piastres each
person. At the taverns where the stages stop they pay one piaster for
dinner, half one for supper or breakfast, and the same for a bed. The
space of ground that separates the two cities is completely {20}
cleared, and the farms are contiguous to each other. About nine miles
from New York is a place called Newark, a pretty little town situated
in New Jersey. The fields that encompass it are planted with apple
trees; the cyder that is made there is accounted the best in the
United States; however, I conceived it by far inferior to that of
Saint Lo, Coutance, or Bayeux. Among the other small towns by the road
side, Trenton seemed worthy of attention. Its situation upon the
Delaware, the beautiful tract of country that surrounds it, must
render it a most delightful place of abode.
Philadelphia is situated upon the Delaware, a hundred miles distant
from the sea; at this period the most extensive, the handsomest, and
most populous city of the United States. In my opinion, there is not
one upon the old continent built upon so regular a plan. The streets
cut each other at right angles, and are from forty to fifty feet in
breadth, except the middle one, which is twice as broad. The market is
built in this street, and is remarkable for its extent and extreme
cleanliness; it is in the centre of the town, and occupies nearly
one-third of its length. The streets are paved commodiously before the
houses with brick; pumps erected on both sides, about {21} fifty yards
distant from each other, afford an abundant supply of water; upon the
top of each is a brilliant lamp. Several streets are planted with
Italian poplars of a most beautiful growth, which makes the houses
appear elegantly rural.
The population of Philadelphia is always on the increase; in 1749,
there were eleven thousand inhabitants; in 1785, forty thousand; and
now the number is computed to be about seventy thousand. The few
Negroes that are there are free, the greatest part of whom go out to
service. Provisions are not quite so dear at Philadelphia as New York;
on which account the boarding houses do not charge more than from six
to ten piastres per week. You never meet any poor at Philadelphia, not
a creature wearing the aspect of misery in his face; that distressing
spectacle, so common in European cities, is unknown in America; love,
industry, the want of sufficient hands, the scarcity of workmanship,
an active commerce, property, are the direct causes that contend
against the introduction of beggary, whether in town or country.
During my stay at Philadelphia, I had an opportunity of seeing the
Rev. Dr. Collin, minister of the Swedish church, and president of the
Philosophical {22} Society; Mr. John Vaughan, the secretary; Messrs.
Piles, John and William Bartram.[5] These different gentlemen had
formerly been particularly acquainted with my father, and I received
from them every mark of attention and respect. Mr. Piles has a
beautiful cabinet of natural history. The legislature of Pensylvania
have presented him with a place to arrange it in; that is the only
encouragement he has received. He is continually employed in enriching
it by increasing the number of his correspondents in Europe, as well
as in the remote parts of the United States; still, except a _bison_,
I saw nothing in his collection but what may be found in the Museum at
Paris.
The absence of Mr. W. Hamilton deprived me of the pleasure of seeing
him; notwithstanding, I went into his magnificent garden, situated
upon the borders of the Schuylkill, about four miles from
Philadelphia. His collection of exotics is immense, and remarkable for
plants from New Holland; all the trees and shrubs of the United
States, at least those that could stand the winter at Philadelphia,
after being once removed from their native soil; in short, it would be
almost impossible to find a more agreeable situation than the
residence of Mr. W. Hamilton.[6]
{23} CHAP. III
_Departure from Philadelphia to the Western Country.--Communications
by land in the United States.--Arrival at Lancaster.--
Description of the town and its environs.--Departure.--
Columbia.--Passage from Susquehannah, York, Dover, Carlisle.--
Arrival at Shippensburgh.--Remarks upon the state of
agriculture during the journey._
The states of Kentucky, Tennessea, and Ohio comprise that vast extent
of country known in America by the name of the Western Country. Almost
all the Europeans who have published observations upon the United
States, have been pleased to say, according to common report, that
this part of the country is very fertile; but they have never entered
into the least particulars. It is true that, to reach these new
settlements, one is obliged to travel over a considerable tract of
uninhabited country, and that {24} these journies are tedious,
painful, and afford nothing very interesting to travellers who wish to
describe the manners of the people who reside in the town or most
populous parts; but as natural history, and more especially vegetable
productions, with the state of agriculture, were the chief object of
my researches; my business was to avoid the parts most known, in order
to visit those which had been less explored; consequently, I resolved
to undertake the journey to that remote and almost isolated part of
the country. I had nearly two thousand miles to travel over before my
return to Charleston, where I was to be absolutely about the beginning
of October. My journey had likewise every appearance of being retarded
by a thousand common-place obstacles, which is either impossible to
foresee, or by any means prevent. These considerations, however, did
not stop me; accordingly I fixed my departure from Philadelphia on the
27th of June 1802: I had not the least motive to proceed on slowly, in
order to collect observations already confirmed by travellers who had
written before me on that subject; this very reason induced me to take
the most expeditious means for the purpose of reaching Pittsburgh,
situated at the extremity of Ohio; in consequence of which I took {25}
the stage[7] at Philadelphia, that goes to Shippensburgh by
Lancaster, York, and Carlisle. Shippensburgh, about one hundred and
forty miles from Philadelphia, is the farthest place that the stages
go to upon that road.[8]
It is reckoned sixty miles from Philadelphia to Lancaster, where I
arrived the same day in the afternoon. The road is kept in good repair
by the means of turnpikes, fixed at a regular distance from each
other. Nearly the whole of the way the houses are almost close
together; every proprietor to his enclosure. Throughout the United
States all the land that is cultivated is fenced in, to keep it from
the cattle and quadrupeds of every kind that the inhabitants leave the
major part of the year in the woods, which in that respect are free.
Near towns or villages these {26} enclosures are made with posts,
fixed in the ground about twelve feet from each other, containing five
mortises, at the distance of eight or nine inches, in which are fitted
long spars about four or five inches in diameter, similar to the poles
used by builders for making scaffolds. The reason of their enclosing
thus is principally through economy, as it takes up but very little
wood, which is extremely dear in the environs of the Northern cities;
but in the interior of the country, and in the Southern states, the
enclosures are made with pieces of wood of equal length, placed one
above the other, disposed in a zig-zag form, and supported by their
extremities, which cross and interlace each other; the enclosures
appear to be about seven feet in height. In the lower part of the
Carolines they are made of fir; in the other parts of the country, and
throughout the North, they are comprised of oak and walnut-tree; they
are said to last about five and twenty years when kept in good repair.
The tract of country we have to cross, before we get to Lancaster, is
exceedingly fertile and productive; the fields are covered with wheat,
rye, and oats, which is a proof that the soil is better than that
between New York and Philadelphia. The inns are very {27} numerous on
the road; in almost all of them they speak German. My fellow
travellers being continually thirsty, made the stage stop at every inn
to drink a glass or two of grog. This beverage, which is generally
used in the United States, is a mixture of brandy and water, or rum
and water, the proportion of which depends upon the person’s taste.
Lancaster is situated in a fertile and well-cultivated plain. The town
is built upon a regular plan; the houses, elevated two stories, are
all of brick; the two principal streets are paved as at Philadelphia.
The population is from four to five thousand inhabitants, almost all
of German origin, and various sects; each to his particular church;
that of the Roman Catholics is the least numerous. The inhabitants are
for the most part armourers, hatters, saddlers, and coopers; the
armourers of Lancaster have been long esteemed for the manufacturing
of rifle-barrelled guns, the only arms that are used by the
inhabitants of the interior part of the country, and the Indian
nations that border on the frontiers of the United States.
At Lancaster I formed acquaintance with Mr. Mulhenberg, a Lutheran
minister, who, for twenty years past, had applied himself to botany.
He shewed {28} me the manuscript concerning a _Flora Lancastriensis_.
The number of the species described were upwards of twelve hundred.
Mr. Mulhenberg is very communicative, and more than once he expressed
to me the pleasure it would give him to be on terms of intimacy with
the French botanists; he corresponds regularly with Messrs. Wildenow
and Smith.[9] I met at Lancaster Mr. W. Hamilton, whose magnificent
garden I had an opportunity of seeing near Philadelphia. This amateur
was very intimate with my father; and I can never forget the marks of
benevolence that I received from him and Mr. Mulhenberg, as well as
the concern they both expressed for the success of the long journey I
had undertaken.
On the 27th of June I set out from Lancaster for Shippensburgh. There
were only four of us in the stage, which was fitted up to hold twelve
passengers. Columbia, situated upon the Susquehannah, is the first
town that we arrived at; it is composed of about fifty houses,
scattered here and there, and almost all built with wood; at this
place ends the turnpike road.