MEMOIR, XXVll , 



it might priiicipally be traced to ' Dpwning's Cottage Resi-, 

 dences' and the 'Horticulturist.'" !H6 was naturally elect- 

 Ojd an honorary memher of most of the Horticulturar Soci- 

 eties in tte country ; and as his interest in rural Ufewas 

 xmiversaJi, etnbracing no less the .soil and cultivation, than 

 the plant, and flower, and fruit,>itTi the residence of the 

 cultivator, he received the same b.onor from the Agricultu- 

 ral Associations. 



Meanwhile 'his studies were unremitting ; and in 1845 

 Wiley & Putqam published in New- York and London 

 "The, Fruits and Fruit Trees of America," a volume of 

 six hundred pages. The duodecimo edition had only lineal 

 drawings. The large octavo was illustrated with finely 

 colored plates, executed in Paris, from drawings made in 

 this - country from the original fruits. It is a masterly 

 resume of th? 'results of American experience in the his- 

 tory, character, and growth of fruit, to the date of its pub- 

 lication. The fourteenth edition was published in the year 



It was in May of the year 1846 that I firfet saw Down- 

 ing. A party was made up under the locusts to cross the 

 river and pass the day at "Highland G-ardens," a^ his place 

 •was named. The river at Newburgh is about &, imle wide, 



. dnd is crossed by a quiet country ferry, whence the view 

 dow&waa'd toward the West Pbint Highlands, Butter Hill, 

 Siigar-Loaf, Cro' Nest, and Skunnymunk, is as beautiful 

 a river view as can be seen' upon a summer day. ■ It wa? a 

 merry party which crossed, that bright May morning, and 

 broke, with rijaging laughter, the silence of the river. 



' Most of us were newly escaped from the city, where we 

 had been blockaded by the winter for, many months, and 

 although often tempted by the warm days that came in 

 March, opening the windows on Broadway and ranging 



