THE GRAPE IN COLD HOUSES. 



fulness, and enjoyment, before him, it is sad to reflect that he is so suddenly' cut off, and 

 his agreeable intercourse, and valuable teachings, are lost to us forever! 

 " The glories of our birth and state 



Are shadows, not substantial things j 

 There is no armour against fate ; 

 Death lays his icy hands on Kings j 

 Sceptre and crown 

 Must tumble down, 

 And in the dust be equal made 

 With the poor crooked scythe and spade." 

 With Mr. Do"WNlNG mj' personal intercourse had not been frequent, but always plea- 

 sant. I have partalven of the hospitalities of his late delightful, but now desolate home, on 

 the banks of the Hudson, made classic by his own graceful pen, where his intelligent and 

 charming conversation, and the gentle attentions of one now in the fresh agony of widow- 

 hood, will live among my happiest recollections. 



Nor does the public press throughout the country, fail to give utterance to the sorrow 

 which Mr. Downing's death has created. His loss is lamented as that of a public bene- 

 factor — one who labored for the good of his fellow men. His works will live long after 



him, and 



" — time, the beautifier of the dead," 



will cherish his remembrance in the images of taste and loveliness which he has planned 

 and executed in many a spot that knew only barrenness, till his ingenuity and discrinii- 

 tion had adorned them with the most graceful associations of rural life. 



Honor — gratitude, to his memory! and although at the hazard of violating the proprie- 

 ties of the occasion, by obtruding my own private griefs upon your pages, I cannot but la- 

 ment, that in being forever cut off from my accustomed intercourse with one whom I held 



so worthy, 



" I feel like one 



"Who treads alone 

 Some banquet hall deserted ; 

 Whose lights are fled, 

 Whose garlands dead, 

 And all but he departed!" 



Jeffkets. 



CULTURE OF THE GEAPE IN COLD HOUSES. 



BY A. MESSER, GENEVA, N. Y. 



Mr. L. Tuckek — The late Mr. Downing, whose melancholy death we sincerely mourn, 

 expressed himself much pleased with a statement made by Mr. Chorlton, describing his 

 management of a vinery. It was in the Horticulturist of February last. I have reason 

 to believe that all those who are attempting to grow the foreign grape under glass, were 

 highly entertained by the article. The editor said that there were many others in the 

 country who anight, ij they xcould, furnish a report of their experience. I was entitled to 

 think myself in the number; and although my grapery is small, and built in a cheap 

 manner, and the vines now growing only the third summer; and although gardeners arc 

 not to suppose that all they have to say, is worth printing, still I would like to make 



