94 ANNUAL REPORT, 



Mr. Smith. I will accept the proposed amendment and volun- 

 teer to procure such information for the society. 



Mr. Tuttle. Mr. Chairman, I have regarded Charles Downing 

 as the foremost man in horticulture on this continent. I have 

 had the pleasure of his acquaintance: I have met him at his house. 

 He was one of those men who worked unselfishly during a whole 

 lifetime for the good of horticulture throughout the United 

 States. He spared neither time nor pains; his whole energies 

 were devoted to informing himself and imparting this information 

 to the whole country on the subject of horticulture. I never met 

 a man who, in the time spent with him, more deeply impressed 

 me with kindly feelings and with the unselfish work in which he 

 was engaged, than Charles Downing. This is painful news to 

 me as I had not heard of his death. I had letters from him 

 recently and have been in correspondence with him for years. 

 The whole country has sustained a loss in the death of one of its 

 brightest lights in horticulture. 



Mr. Smith. I can second every word that Mr. Tuttle has 

 said. I believe that Charles Downing was one of those honest 

 men who never lent himself to any selfish scheme of any kind for 

 money. He was h. pure, upright, honest, straightforward man; 

 and to receive the word of Charles Downing for anything was to 

 make it so. I think he was one of the best of men in that 

 respect. Ever since I can remember I have been in love with 

 the man and revered his name. What he wrote on the subject 

 of horticulture showed that his heart and soul were in the work; 

 he loved it, he loved trees and plants and flowers, lived among 

 and enjoyed them. He has done more, perhaps, than any other 

 one man to educate the American people in horticulture and flori- 

 culture, teaching them how to beautify their homes, their 

 grounds and gardens. We need more such men such as wasCharlps 

 Downing, men that speak and act from unselfish motives. 



Mr. Harris. Mr. President, the shock that comes to us in 

 hearing of the death of this eminent man is quite as appalling to 

 those of us who love horticulture as to the public generally the 

 news of the sudden death of our chief magistrate. For in thou- 

 sands of homes in our land the name of Charles Downing is a 

 household word. There is probably but one pomologist living 

 whose name may possibly be more revered and loved, and that 

 is that of Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, now approaching towards 

 his ninetieth year — eighty- seven years of age. If we had time 

 to devote to this matter our society could no doubt spend a 

 whole day in eulogizing this great horticulturist. 



