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THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[April, 



liTERATUM, Travels and Personal Notes, 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



REMINISCENSES OF CHARLES DOWNING. 



BY CHAS. W. MURTFELDT. 



Among the noteworthy incidents in the life of 

 Chas. Downing is the fact, that, to the last, Down- 

 ing's fruit book is credited to the authorship of 

 A. J. Downing, who died over forty years ago, by 

 the burning of the Hudson river steamboat near 

 Tarrytown ; thus showing the very modest, unas- 

 suming and unpretentious character of the great 

 horticulturist — his brother. 



I am proud that he called me his friend, and 

 number among the pleasantest hours of my life 

 those spent at his home in Newburgh as a visitor. 

 On one occasion he invited me to visit with him 

 his former experimental orchard, at that time 

 owned by Mr. Alfred Bridgeman, a prominent 

 seedsman of New York, who, to his honor be 

 it here recorded, had given him the privilege to 

 still carry on his experiments and to treat the 

 fruit as if it were all his own. One of the pictures 

 taken of Mr. Chas. Downing (I think for the 

 Rural New Yorker but am not certain) represents 

 him in the orchard with a small splint basket on 

 his arm, selecting specimens. This identical bas- 

 ket he took and we sallied forth. We entered his 

 former place and had gone through five or six 

 rows of the pear orchard — every tree bearing from 

 four to six varieties — it was in September, when 

 Mr. D. stopped before a tree and bade me scrut- 

 inize two branches, both bearing, to observe the 

 color of the bark, size and color of leaves and two 

 fine pears. " I discover no difference," said I. 

 " Neither do I," was his answer. Continuing, he 

 said, " this pays me for my visit to-day. This 



scion was sent me by Mr. in i8 — under 



such a name, and this I received from Mr. 



under such a name." Making a note in his 



memorandum book and marking the pears with 

 pencil, he said, referring to the names : " This is 

 the true name, and this is a synonym." Well 

 may the Editor of the Gardeners' Monthly ex- 

 claim, " Who shall now classify and identify our 

 fruits!" And I will add, who now can take up the 

 work where he laid it down ? Such men as Chas. 

 Downing are rare and seldom found. 



Mr. Downing used his back parlor for an office ; 

 he worked at a flat desk which had drawers on 

 each side full of memoranda. Horticultural au- 

 thorities, such as Warder, Thomas, Hovey and 

 others, and his own work, were evet within reach. 

 Quantities of fruit were brought by every express 

 train. After breakfast packages were opened and 

 letters read ; the fruit assorted and examined ; 

 then a fair medium — if more than one was received 

 from the same source — specimen was cut into two 

 sections, one of which was dried on a blotter and 

 fully described, outline taken, size of core and 

 number of seeds noticed (in apples and pears), 

 length of stem, calix, depth of basin, color and 

 general character described, and in the meantime 

 I the other section was frequently tasted and finally 

 all compared with the descriptions of several au- 

 thors as well as of his own. If needful, other 

 j memoranda were made, and published with list of 

 new fruits in his supplements and additions to his 

 book. Thus the whole morning was devoted to 

 the examination of fruits. In this careful and 

 deliberate way was his work perfected, and we 

 who remain enjoy the benefits of his thorough and 

 patient labors. To my mind the last twenty years 

 of his life before the accident were the most pleas- 

 ant and ideal of any man I ever knew. 



On one occasion when 1 was with him he had 

 just received the fruit catalogue of a distinguished 

 I German nursery firm. Mr. D. was not versed in 

 ' the German language and requested me to trans- 

 late for him some parts of the pamphlet. It was 

 a great pleasure for me to do this, because I thus 

 learned of his astonishing memory and ability to 

 identify fruits. Before 1 could fully translate 

 descriptions of fruits he would give the proper 

 name in English and finish the description, and 

 thus with thousands of varieties of apples, pears, 

 cherries, etc. I expressed my surprise that he 

 could remember so many names and the general 

 character of so great varieties. " Yes," said Mr. 

 D., "It is surprising to myself, but with the name 

 comes up the fruit as in a picture or a photo ; 

 they are all engraved on my mind." Only long 

 and patient study and an enthusiasm like his own 

 could ever accomplish such results. 



When Miss Waite married the subject of these 

 lines, an intimate friend of hers said : " You had 



