He quickly became known as the greatest American writer 

 in the field of rural affairs and as a literary artist of genuine 

 talent. His first and most unqiialiiied success was his book 

 on "Landscape Gardening," which was published in 1841, 

 when he was twenty-six years old, a book which stands to- 

 day as a classic and a masterpiece. The following year saw 

 the publication of his "Cottage Residences." In 1815, 

 when he was thirty years old, he gave the world "The 

 Fruits and Fruit Trees of America," another epoch-making 

 work in a totally different field. In 1846, he became the 

 editor of the "Horticulturist," and in this office did the most 

 notable literary work of his whole career. In 1850, he put 

 out his "Architecture of Country Houses." In 1852, he 

 edited the American edition of Mrs. Loudon's "Gardening 

 for Ladies." In the meantime his other works had sold so 

 freely that he had been obliged to prepare several new edi- 

 tions, each one a great advance upon its predecessor. 



Then on July 28, 1852, came his tragic and untimely 

 death. When we think of all that he might have accom- 

 plished with a few more years of life in this period of his 

 capable maturity we are compelled for ourselves to share 

 the grief of those friends of 1852 who were never able suffi- 

 ciently to mourn his loss. 



These rough outlines of a great and many-sided life must 

 serve our present needs. It is not for me at this late day to 

 add anything to the memorial prepared by his own intimate 

 friends. Nor could I presume to revise the estimate of his 

 character given by such competent authority as his dis- 

 tinguished literary biographer, George William Curtis. It 

 does seem fair, however, for us in our day to try once more 

 the measure of his genius and to endeavor to count what 

 portions of his work have lived to help us. This at least his 

 sorrowing friends could not do in 1852. 



Andrew Jackson Downing must be remembered to us 

 first of all as a nurseryman. It was in this field that his life 

 began. In this field he learned great lessons which yielded 

 him the most substantial and obvious help in other lines of 

 work. Moreover it was through his nursery work that he 



