Descriptive summary
|
creator:
|
Downing, Charles
(1802-1885) |
|
title:
|
Pomological
Variety Notes |
|
dates:
|
1851-1900, n.d. |
|
extent:
|
3.15 linear ft.
(7 document boxes and 1 half-document box) |
|
collection number:
|
MS 220 |
|
repository:
|
Special
Collections Department, Iowa State University. |
Administrative
information
|
access:
|
Open for research
|
|
publication rights:
|
Consult Head, Special Collections Department
|
|
preferred
citation:
|
Charles Downing
Pomological Variety Notes, MS 220, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University Library.
|
Biographical
note
|
|
Charles Downing
was born in 1802 in Newburg, New York. He was educated in local
schools, and from his teenage years on he assisted his father,
Samuel Downing, in his nursery business. Upon his father's death in
1822, he took over the operation of the nursery. He entered into
partnership with his younger brother (famed landscape architect
Andrew Jackson Downing) in 1835, and they continued in business
together four years. In 1839, Charles Downing sold out his interest
in the family business and started his own nursery. About 1850, he
gave up the business entirely and the rest of his life was devoted
to research and experimentation on fruit varieties. He developed a
test orchard which contained 1,800 varieties of apples and 1,000
varieties of pears. With his brother he prepared The Fruits and
Fruit Trees of America (first published in 1845) and after
Andrew's death in 1852 he continued to revise and expand the book.
Too shy to ever give a speech, Downing did write many articles and
was internationally recognized as an authority on pomology. He died
in 1885. |
|
Collection description
|
|
This collection (1851-1900, n.d.) contains Charles Downing's notes
on numerous varieties of pears, plums and cherries. These include
sketches of the fruit; notations on color, fruit shape, and habit;
and sometimes notations on the yield of the variety in a particular
year. There are also occasional news clippings and portions of
letters from others scattered throughout the books; these, too,
describe the characteristics of fruits. Correspondents are J.
Battey, G. B. Brackett, John Milton Earle, A. Foote, and Ch.
Gilbert. In some cases later notes (such as updated names for the
different varieties) were penciled in, presumably by Professor J. L.
Budd or other members of the Horticulture Department at Iowa State
College (University).
These notes came
to the library through Professor Joseph Lancaster Budd, Head of the
Horticulture Department at Iowa State from 1877 to 1899, who was
also a prominent pomologist. Downing willed his notes and his
horticultural library to Budd, with the stipulation that these items
would come to the Iowa State College (University) Library when Budd
had no further need of them. The notes were added to the Library's
collection in 1930 and were placed into notebooks. |
Container list
|
Box
|
Folder |
Title |
Dates |
|
1 |
|
|
1857-1881, n.d. |
|
2 |
|
Part 2, Pears, pp.
166-330 |
1857-1881, n.d. |
|
3 |
|
Part 3, Pears, pp.
331-418
Plums,
pp. 419-422
Cherries, p. 423
Plums,
p. 424
Cherries, pp. 425-434
Plums,
pp. 435-495 |
1857-1900, n.d. |
|
4 |
|
Part 4, Plums, pp.
496-620
Pears,
pp. 621-660 |
1857-1884, n.d. |
|
5 |
|
Part 5, Pears, pp.
661-825 |
1857-1879, n.d. |
|
6 |
|
Part 6, Pears, pp.
826-990 |
1851-1879, n.d. |
|
7 |
|
Part 7, Pears, pp.
991-1113
Plums,
pp. 1114-1155 |
1857-1883, n.d. |
|
8 |
|
Part 8, Plums, pp.
1156-1276 |
1857-1884, n.d. |
|
8 |
|
Index to
correspondence |
n.d. |
|
