112 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



it is very scant. When great men fall 

 society deeply feels and laments the 

 wide-spread loss. The great man is 

 very often quite I'eticent concerning 

 himself, and although widely valuable 

 work is done, is not always known as 

 the author of it. Were it not for the 

 stupendous work of labour left to bene- 

 fit the present generation and those in 

 the future, we should not cease to 

 lament the demise of the subject of the 

 present notice. Even with this legacy 

 his presence in the world of action will 

 be greatly missed. On 



THE BEAUTIFUL BANKS OF THE HUDSON, 



the most noted and the most beautiful 

 of all American rivers, Charles Down- 

 ing was born, of humble parentage, 

 July 9th, 1802; and thirteen years 

 afterwards on the same romantic site 

 was added to the family circle his gifted 

 and famous brother, A. J. Downing, 

 the early author of many popular works 

 on economic horticulture. Their father 

 was a nurseryman of some considerable 

 experience and culture, and owned a 

 good property near his horhe in New- 

 burgh, IST.Y., where he did a large busi- 

 ness. But before the subject of our 

 notes had attained his majority his 

 father died leaving the whole control of 

 the business to devolve upon Charles. 

 But later, as the younger brother had 

 completed his school trafning, necessary 

 for business, they together carried on 

 the work of their father under the joint 

 firm name of C. & A. J. Downing, and 

 later of A. J. Downing & Co. After a 

 few years, however, Charles purchas- 

 ing a property a shoz^t distance from 

 their old home, establishing his well 

 known 



'•NURSERY AND EXPERIMENTAL GARDEN." 



At a very early date the Downings 

 became very widely known for their 

 deep and broad intelligence in matters 

 pei-taining to general horticulture and 

 fruit growing. The development of 



fruits, their nomenclature and classifi- 

 cation were specialties with them, and 

 they speedily became very popular as 

 advisers and corresponding members of 

 many local and foreign horticultui-al 

 societies. In the language of a fair 

 correspondent, '• During the 21 years 

 Charles is but little heard of, while his 

 young and talented brother astonished 

 the conservatives of the whole world 

 with his ' Landscape Gardening ' at the 

 early age of 2G years. Then came his 

 ' Cottage Residences.' Then the volumes 

 of ' Downing's Horticulturist,' and in 

 1845, when but 30 years of age, ap- 

 peared ' The Fruits and Fruit Trees 

 of America.' The coi-respondents of 

 Charles Downing of the past half cen- 

 tury need not be told that he was the 

 great laborer of his age in the field of 

 untangling the confusing nomenclature 

 of the fruits of temperate zones." My 

 venerable and esteemed veteran friend 



J. J. THOMAS, OF NEW YORK, 



contributes the following notes of infor- 

 mation bearing on the subject : — " I 

 first met the two brothers at the state 

 fair at Albany, 1842, where they had 

 a fine exhibition of fruit — at that time 

 one of the finest I had seen. Charles 

 Downing then showed his simple, 

 straightforward character. I had chai'ge 

 of the exhibition of fruit, and was to 

 meet them early the next morning be- 

 fore the ariival of the great crowd to 

 examine their exhibition. I found 

 Charles there at the minute appointed. 

 I asked him where A. J. D. was ? 

 ' Oh, he was down at the city among 

 the big folk.' This simple, unpretend- 

 ing character was always the same 

 through his long life. He greatly dis- 

 liked any kind of pretention and strongly 

 expi-essed his disapproval on one occa- 

 sion of the word 'Esq.' attached to his 

 name. Three years later I visited him 

 at 



HIS RESIDENCE AT NEWBURGH. 



Partaking of an early meal, I went to 



