MR. WILDER'S EULOGY. 



Indeed, no sy,steni of farming can be complete unless a department of horticulture 

 be connected with the farm. The aid of horticulture is required to give the home- 

 stead a character of truth and completeness. A farm may be productive ; it may be 

 well and thoroughly cultivated ; it may, in well arranged buildings and other shelter- 

 ed accommodation, give protection to all that live upon it and share in its labors or aid 

 in its emoluments ; but the repose, the quietude, the true enjoyment of agricultural 

 life, cannot be had short of an appropriation to the horticultural department. That 

 it is, which more than all else beside, gives expression to the domain, and stamps it 

 with a character of dignity and beauty, and clusters those thousand associations 

 around it, which fill up to perfection the true, as well as the ideal picture of Home. 



COL. WILDER'S EULOGY ON MR. DOWNING. 



The annual return of the 28th of July will moisten the eyes and agonize the hearts of 

 many American citizens. 



On the morning of that disastrous day two steamers, the Armenia and the Henry Clay, 

 with numerous passengers on board, start from the capital for the chief commercial port 

 of the Empire State. Like "stately sailing swans," they glide swiftly over the smooth 

 surface of the Hudson. The fire within them waxes warm; their awful energies are rous- 

 ed; they run abreast — anon, the " bird of the West" darts ahead and distances her orient 

 rival. She calls at her landings, swells the number of her passengers, and with fearful 

 velocity hears them onward. 



They admire the varied landscapes, the cottages, villas, towns, cities, bold cliffs, and lofty 

 mountains, which have given the scenery about this majestic river a world-wide renown. 



They near a city, which rises in beauty and grace from its western bank back to the 

 brow of the distant hill. There is a 



" Cottage, halt" embowered 

 AVitli inociesl jes-:amiue, .iiid there a spot 

 Of garden ground, where, ranged in neat array, 

 Grow countless sweets." 



Its architecture is in the most approved Elizabethean style. Its grounds are tastefully 

 laid out and adorned, and he who named it " Highland Gardens," accurately translated 

 the natural language of the place. It overlooks the city and the river, and commands a 

 view of one of the most extensive and beautiful landscapes in the world. The very site 

 seems designed by nature for the birth place of genius, and for the abode of comfort, taste 

 and learning. 



Its proprietor, with his relatives and friends, six in all, take passage in the ill-fated 

 boat. She bears them on toward their port of destination, when suddenly the alarm of 

 fire rings like a death-knell through that floating sepulchre. The passengers are ordered 

 aft, and she is headed for the eastern shore. In a moment all is consternation and horror, 

 which no language can describe, no painter's pencil sketch. Her whole centre is on fire. 

 She strikes the bank two miles below the town of Yonkers. The wind envelopes the 

 multitude on her stern, in smoke and flame. With a fearful odds in the chances of escape, 

 * Pronounced before the Pomological Congress at Philadelphia, September 13, 1852. 



