Charles Downing

Charles Downing (1802 to 1885) was an American pomologist, horticulturist and writer, born in Newburgh, New York. He took over his father's nursery business in 1822, partnered with his brother Andrew Jackson Downing from 1835 to 1839 and then ran his own nursery, where he was known for his cultivation skill and trustworthiness. With his brother he wrote The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America, published in 1845, and after Andrew's death in 1852 he edited and enlarged it through later editions, which made it the best publication of its kind in the United States. In 1850 he left the nursery to research fruit varieties, and his test orchard held 1,800 varieties of apples and 1,000 of pears. In 1870 he traveled to California with Marshall P. Wilder, Patrick Barry and George Ellwanger and published a report on the journey, and he left his library to the horticulture department of Iowa Agricultural College.