^^B^ 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



m 



ISarticiilturnl Jfjinrtrntnt. 



CONDUCTED BY P. BARRY. 



DEATH OF A. J. DOWNING. 



''^k 



By one of those terrible accidents that redden the pages of our daily history with human 

 blood, this gifted and estimable man has been cut down, in the very prime of life, and 

 in the morning of his influence and usefulness. 



Of all the records of recklessness, this burning of the steamer Henry Clay will be 

 recollected as one of the most painfully aggravated and inexcusable. That for the sake 

 of a paltry strife, seventy or eighty human beings should be hurried into eternity, in 

 broad day light, on the peaceful waters of the Hudson and within a rod of the land, is 

 truly a most excruciating thought. If sympathy can afibrd any consolation to the 

 mourning relatives of those who so suddenly perished, surely they have it. But what is 

 sympathy ? What can the world say or do, to assuage the grief of the lonely widows, 

 the orphaned children, the desolate fathers, brothers, and sisters, whose loved ones have 

 fallen victims to this sad disaster ? Ah ! very little indeed ! 



The loss of Mr. Downinq is no common one. It is felt, by all who knew him and 

 who appreciated his talents and labors, as a national calamity. As a contemporary has 

 truly said, " There is no man whom the country could so ill afibrd to lose, or whose 

 services can so little be replaced, as those of Mr. Downing." He was a man of shining 

 talents and the most varied accomplishments. As a pomologist, his works are looked 

 upon as the standard American authority, both at home and abroad. He was familiar 

 with horticulture in all its branches, both in theory and practice. In landscape garden- 

 ing and rural architecture he had no equal in this country. Besides, he was a polished 

 scholar, and a graceful and effective writer. He had made himself thoroughly acquainted 

 with the resources of the country, and the wants of the country people. Country life 

 was his study: how its industry might be expanded and improved — how it might be 

 refined and elevated — how its comforts and pleasures might be multiplied. How 

 natue and art might best be united in beautifying the country home, and making it 

 expressive of the social life, as it should be, of the American people, was his great theme 

 — his great object. How devotedly and successfully he pursued it, is well known — • 

 the face of the country proclaims it. Its improved architecture, its orchards, and its 

 gardens, everywhere speak of his teachings — of the knowledge and the taste he has 

 disseminated, and the influence he has exerted upon the hearts and minds of his coun- 

 trymen. But he is gone. His labors are ended. His life was a short one, but active 

 and useful, and we trust prepared him for a glorious eternal paradise. 



Reader, while we mingle our sorrows for the deceased, and our sympathies with his 

 afflicted relations and friends, let us cherish his memory, and honor it by studying anew 

 his writings and teachings, and carrying them into practice. His death is a solemn and 

 impressive admonition that life is uncertain. But we must not despond nor be discour- 

 aged, but go forward manfully and perform the work allotted us, "while it is yet day." 



Nearly all the Horticultural Societies in the eoimtry have passed resolutions of respect 

 for the character of Mr. Downing and sympathy with his family, and the Massachusetts 

 Society has invited the Hon. Marshall P. Wilder to deliver an eulogy on the life an.d 

 character of the deceased. We are glad to learn this. The selection of Mr. Wilder is 

 the best that could be made. No man is more competent to discharge this sad duty 

 than he, not only because of a long and intimate friendship that has existed between 

 him and the deceased, but because he is himself one of the haost able and zealous 



