CHAPTER VI 



RELATIONS WITH DOWNING 



SINCE Mr. Olmsted's particular interest in rural pursuits 

 dated from 1844 and Andrew Jackson Downing did not 

 meet his death until 1852, one naturally looks for some con- 

 nection between the two men. We know that Mr. Olmsted 

 contributed to the Horticulturist, 1 that he had letters of 

 advice and introduction from Mr. Downing for his European 

 trip of 1850, and that he visited Downing at Newburgh, at 

 least once. Nevertheless, there is surprisingly little to be 

 found bearing definitely on their relations. 



This subject was presented before the Boston Society of 

 Landscape Architects in 1916, by Mr. John C. Olmsted, in a 

 paper entitled "The Influence of A. J. Downing on the 

 Designers of Central Park," from which the following is a 

 brief selection. 



"Those who knew A. J. Downing and have written about 

 him have made it clear that he was just the sort of man to 

 have had a marked influence on the young and impression- 

 able men who later became the designers of Central Park. 

 It is incontestable that he had every opportunity to impress 

 his knowledge and cultivated taste in subjects related to 

 park designing on at least the younger of those two young 

 men, namely Calvert Vaux, because, he had brought Mr. 

 Vaux in the summer of 1850 from London, where he had been 

 a pupil and draughtsman in the office of a London architect 



1 As early as Aug. 1847 (Vol. 2, No. 2) there appeared in the Horticulturist a 

 letter from F. L. Olmsted, Sachem's Head, Guilford, Conn., dated June 29, 

 1847, under the heading "Queries on Sea-Coast Culture." The letter asked 

 about quinces and protection of plants at the seashore. Two selections from 

 the MS. of Walks and Talks were published in the Horticulturist (1851 and 

 1852) with editorial endorsement by Mr. Downing, who reviewed the book at 

 great length. An article on pears by F. L. Olmsted, Southside, Staten Island, 

 appeared in the Horticulturist for Jan. i, 1852. 



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