504 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



and its atmosphere will be thus kept continually 

 changed. 



We would remark, in conclusion, that those 

 moving masses of air, called winds, are produced 

 in a similar way. The sun is the great cause of 

 winds ; its heat is unequally diffused over the 

 earth's surface, and the air becomes consequently 

 heated in one part to a greater degree than in 

 another. The hot air rises, and its place is sup- 

 plied by the flow of the colder air from the sur- 

 rounding parts. When the vacuum thus created 

 is sudden, and the flow of the surrounding air is 

 violent, the meeting of winds from all points of the 

 compass produces at sea the phenomena of water 

 spouts, and on land whirlwinds, caused by the air 

 ascending in a spiral into the higher regions of the 

 atmosphere. There are a number of cases which 

 produce inequalities of temperature in the atmos- 

 phere ; some of the most obvious of which are the 

 alternation of night and day, and the occurrence 

 of cloudy and unclouded skies. The air must be 

 necessarily heated when illumined by the rays of 

 the sun, and cooled when those rays are with- 

 drawn. 



OBITUARY OF A. J. DOWNING, ESQ. 



Stars, unnumbered and unwept, go out from the 

 broad sky ; but when a planet fades from our vi- 

 sion, reflection is forced upon us. When one in 

 the strength of his manhood and at the height 

 of his usefulness is removed from his place, leav- 

 ing his mission seemingly but half accomplished, 

 we pause to acknowledge a higher power than our 

 own, and purposes reaching beyond human fore- 

 sight. 



The sudden and untimely death of A. J. Down- 

 ing, Esq., late editor of The Horticulturist, who 

 was among those who lost their lives at the burn- 

 ing of the steamboat Henry Clay, on the Hudson 

 River, on the 28th July, has fallen with a crush- 

 ing weight on the hearts of his friends, and upon 

 the public generally, as a common calamity. The 

 place he occupied is now a blank — the command- 

 ing position to which he had carved his way, will 

 wait long for a claimant. Though comparatively 

 a young man, he had earned a reputation for abil- 

 ity, and enjoyed a popularity, which few had been 

 fortunate enough to win. Without the advantage 

 of a liheral education, — forced from youth to rely 

 i n his own unaided exertions, — at the early age 

 of thirty -seven years he had elevated himself to an 

 enviable r n>.k among the first minds of the age. 

 At whatever point of view we regard him, Ave are 

 compell< d to admire the symmetry of his charac- 

 ter, the vigor of his mind, the versatility of his 

 talents, and that healthful flow of enthusiastic 

 feeling which marks his writings. There are those 

 who can work out beautiful thoughts in marble, 

 who can clothe them in the touching language of 

 poetry*, or bid them flow in the rounded periods 

 ami convincing strains of oratory, but few minds 

 seem possessed of the power to add by art to the 

 beauty of nature, and make the desert blossom 

 like the rose. 



Mr. Downing first claims our attention as a prac- 

 tical horticulturist and nurseryman. Unlike the 

 majority of working-men, he did not busy himself 

 exclusively in the manipulations and detail of his 

 art, though in these eminently successful, but la- 

 bored to discover the first principles of his profes- 

 sion, and to bring it up to its proper rank in sci- 



ence and the fine arts. When we consider the dis- 

 couraging circumstances under which he wrought, 

 both in the means of prosecuting its work and the 

 apathy of public sentiment, we wonder that he 

 should have produced a treatise so perfect in his 

 kind, so elaborate and finished, as his Landscape 

 Gardening. He handles, with apparent ease, the 

 subtle topics of abstract beauty, the moral and so- 

 cial influence of its development in nature, and 

 what is more remarkable, he is equally at home in 

 carrying his theory into practice. This work first 

 appeared in 1841, and though an elegant and cost- 

 ly book, has now passed through four editions. It 

 was the first publication on the subject by an Amer- 

 ican author, and so completely unknown was the 

 art, that the manuscript remained sometime in the 

 bands of the author without a publisher. It was, 

 however, a complete triumph, and may be said to 

 have almost created a taste for ornamental garden- 

 ing — it certainly refined and elevated it. 



The discussion of the disposition and adornment 

 of the grounds pertaining to a residence, naturally 

 led to the subject of Architecture. With all the 

 branches of this art, Mr. Downing was familiar, 

 and his Cottage Residences and Country Houses 

 display with great effect his admirable taste. He 

 discusses the meaning and expression of Architec- 

 ture, in a profound and comprehensive manner ; 

 and following, what seems to have been a motto 

 with him — "Never to lose sight of good sense," — 

 he shows the absurdity of adopting ancient archi- 

 tecture as the highest form of the art, and argues 

 the necessity of a peculiar national style of build- 

 ing. That he founded a distinct school, we do not 

 assert ; but from many sources, and particularly 

 from his own varied culture, sound judgment, and 

 correct taste, he drew just what seemed best adapt- 

 ed to the wants and capacity of the country. 



The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America, which 

 was issued in 1846, presents to great advantage 

 the pomological research and experience of Mr. 

 Downing. This work is admirably executed, and 

 has met with universal favor. These works of Mr. 

 Downing have given this country a rank among 

 other nations in horticulture and rural taste, and 

 exerted a wide influence upon the improvement of 

 our own gardens and houses. Many a residence, 

 beautified by his skill, many a smiling lawn, and 

 gracefully disposed group of foliage, remain as fit 

 monuments to his memory, and many a home 

 made happier by his teachings, will be saddened 

 by his death. 



In the editorship of the Horticulturist, lie lias 

 shown, perhaps, better than in his other writings, 

 the peculiar fitness of his talents to educate the 

 popular taste for the beautiful in nature and art. 

 The success which has attended this periodical, 

 and the increased attention which is being paid to 

 landscape gardening, horticulture and rural deco- 

 ration, are proof of the beneficial influence of his 

 labors. Whether we read his Letters from Eng- 

 land, which exhibit a refined literary taste, and a 

 delicate appreciation of and full acquaintance with 

 the pleasures of a scholarly and cultivated mind, 

 or the plain sayings and wholesome counsel of 

 "Old Digger," we recognize the same sterling 

 sense and discriminating judgment. Mr. Down- 

 ing was not by eminence a theorist. It was not 

 his aim to build castles too grand and lofty for hu- 

 man realization, or to show the power <>f his in- 

 tellect by forming conceptions, which imagination 



