HORTICULTURISTS 



HORTICULTURISTS 



1573 



Few of our horticultural books are epoch-making. 

 Downing's writings, however, started a great popular 

 movement in America toward beautiful homes and 

 home grounds. By many persons, Andrew Jackson 

 Downing is considered the greatest single figure in the 

 history of American horticulture, and one of the few 

 persons who can be said to have had real genius. An 

 appreciation of Downing's personality will be found 

 in Frederika Bremer's "Homes of the New World." 

 (See Dowtdngia, for the genus of jjlants named after 

 him)- Wii.HELM Miller. 



Downing, Charles, (Fig. 1878), distinguished pomol- 

 ogist and elder brother of Andrew Jackson Downing, the 

 landscape gardener, was born at Newburg, New York, 

 July 9, 1802. He was educated at the local academy, 

 and from the age of thirteen to eighteen worked part 



of the time in his 

 father's nursery. At 

 the age of twenty he 

 started in the nursery 

 business on his own 

 account. From 1834 

 to 1839 his brother 

 (Q^ ?!'"' "^'^y Andrew was a partner 



V-. ,^fj ,{ in this business. About 



1850, he sold out his 

 nursery business and 

 devoted himself to the 

 study of varieties of 

 fruits, on which sub- 

 ject he was the leading 

 authority until his 

 death. The "Fruits 

 and Fruit Trees of 

 America" is the monu- 

 mental American work 

 on varieties of fruits. 

 The book was pro- 

 jected by Andrew, but 

 the great bulk of the work was done by Charles in 

 continuing and revising it. His test orchard contained 

 trees and grafts of 1,800 varieties of apples, 1,000 

 pears, and other fruits in proportion. In 1896 a city 

 street was put through it. Charles Downing was very 

 modest and retiring. He would never make a pub- 

 lic speech, but he WTote many pomological articles 

 over the signature "C. D." All his work is marked by 

 conscientious accuracy. He died January 18, 1885. 



WiLHELM Miller. 

 Dreer, Henry A., seedsman and florist, founder of 

 one of the oldest American horticultural estabhsh- 

 ments, was born in Philadelphia, August 24, 1818, and 

 died December 22, 1873, at the age of fifty-five. His 

 parents were Frederick Dreer, of Hanover, and Fred- 

 ericka Augusta Nolthenius, of Grossakenheim, Ger- 

 many. They were married in .America. The Nolthenius 

 family emigrated to the United States in the last decade 

 of the eighteenth century. Hem'y A. Drccr's education 

 was largely in German, and obtained in Philadelphia. 

 He was fond of gathering seeds and plants in the 

 country, and would bring them home to cultivate. He 

 was trained in his father's business, that of a cabinet- 

 maker. In 1838, at the solicitation of a friend, he 

 began as a seedsman and florist in a small way, at 59 

 Chestnut Street. In 18(53 he moved his store to 

 714 Chestnut St., where the business has been con- 

 ducted ever since with the addition of No. 716. His 

 only .son, William F. Dreer, succeeded his father and 

 conducts the extensive business in Philadelphia and at 

 Riverton, N. J. 



Henry A. Dreer was of modest temperament and 

 frail constitution, and confined him.self to business rather 

 closely. He was liberal in public matters, but always 

 kept out of political life. He compiled several small 

 works in connection with the business, and wrote fre- 



1878. Charles Downing. 



quently for the "Saturday Evening Post," of Philadel- 

 phia, and for Godey's "Ladies' Magazine." 



WiLHELM Miller. 

 Dufour, John James, a Swiss vigneron, was at the 

 head of a colony to grow the wine grape in Kentucky, 

 and the author of "Vine Dresser's Guide," published 

 in Cincinnati in 1826. The Kentucky experiment 

 failed, and the colony then settled in southern Indi- 

 ana, on the banks of the Ohio River; and this settle- 

 ment is now the city of Vevay. Here Dufour died in 

 1827. This Indiana experiment brought out the merits of 

 the Alexander grape, a native, and thereby did much to 

 establish an American viticulture. For detailed account 

 of the Dufours and their associates, and the results of 

 their work, see Bailey, "Evolution of Our Native Fruits." 



EUot, Charles, landscape architect and author, 

 passed away at Brookline, Massachusetts, early in the 

 year of 1897. It is is said that no one of the present 

 generation has shown greater ability in the art of land- 

 scaije gardening on an extensive scale. From the time 

 of his graduation until the time of his death, all his 

 strength and energy had been given to the improve- 

 ment of private grounds and pubhc parks. A Harvard 

 graduate, he took a post-graduate course at Bussey 

 Institution, spending much of the time in studying the 

 trees and shrubs in Arnold Arboretum. After familiar- 

 izing him.self for a time with foreign parks and gardens, 

 he entered the office of the late F. L. Olmsted, as a 

 student. On completing his studies with Mr. Olmsted, 

 he established his office in Boston and soon had a large 

 chentele. He later became a member of the firm of 

 Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot and soon became identified 

 with national undertakings with which he will long be 

 reniembere<l. While a member of the Appalachian 

 Mountain Club, he was secretary and president of the 

 corporation knowai as Trustees of Public Reservations, 

 anil from this organization sprang the admirable Metro- 

 politan Park System. Mr. Ehot was the first landscape 

 architect appointed by this Commission, and continued 

 so until his death. To him, more than almost any other 

 man, Massachusetts at least, is indebted for the 

 improvement of her large tracts of land. 



He was one of the best professional WTiters of his 

 day on landscape gardening. His style was clear, 

 earnest and convincing, and he allowed no minor matter 

 to stand in the way of what he deemed the broaiiest 

 and finest treatment, looked at from the future, and 

 no other man during the past few years of Charles 

 Eliot's hfe did so much toward cr\'stallizing the better 

 interests of the parking systems. To his work he 

 brought vim, a trained intellect, a personal charm and 

 a mature judgment. The pubUc loss was great when 

 Charles EUot left his work. q g Br.\ckett. 



Eliot, Jared, author of an early American book on 

 agriculture, was born November 7, 1685, and died 

 Ajiril 22, 1763. He was the grandson of John Eliot, the 

 "apostle of the Indians," and was pastor at Killing- 

 worth, Connecticut, from October 26, 1709, until his 

 death. He was a botanist, and the leading consulting 

 physician in New England. He introduced the mul- 

 fserry tree into Connecticut, WTote an essay upon the 

 silkworm, and discovered a process of extracting iron 

 from fcrrugineous sands. His "Essays ujion Field- 

 Husbandry," begun in 1748, are generally regarded as 

 the first important American book devoted exclusively 

 to agriculture, although not actually the first work 

 on the subject in the New World. It is now 

 extremely rare. H(^ was a high-minded, progressive 

 and u.seful citizen. M.any of his sermons were separately 

 reprinted. Jared Eliot and Samuel Deane were among 

 the few agricultural writers of note in the i)eriod before 

 American horticulture was considere<l distinct from 

 agriculture. See p. 1509; for portrait, "Cyclopedia 

 American Agriculture," Vol. IV, p. .568. 



WiLHELM Miller. 



