His style of writing is unaffected and flowing, and his diction, though elegant and ornate, is never verbose or tiresome. Such a style grew naturally out of his characteristics of mind and habits of thought. His mind was furnished and cultivated, and his impulsiveness bore his thoughts by the nearest way to the desired end. This brings to notice that peculiar earnestness and sincerity which everywhere is visible in his writings. Neither a philosopher or an enthusiast, he combined the excellencies of both in his individuality. Above all others, he was the man best fitted to mould the architectural and rural taste of the country to a correct model, to guide public sentiment to whatever is highest in Nature and purest in Art, and to aid in making America what Heaven designed it should be, the garden of the whole earth.

Mr. Downing has closed his labors too early to have shown the full maturity of his power. If his youth has been thus productive, what results might .have crowned a longer life! what beauty might have sprung from a riper experience and an enlarging capacity!

About two years since, Mr. Downing received an invitation to visit Washington, for the purpose of conferring with the President with reference to the laying out the public grounds in the vicinity of the Capitol. For the last year and a half he has been engaged in designing and perfecting his plans, and in accordance with them, a park of some 160 acres is being constructed. It will afford the only example of grounds to such extent, laid out by the rules of art, in this country, and will undoubtedly be a most perfect work of its kind.

In his private character, Mr. Downing was upright, manly, and enthusiastic, and he entered with zeal and energy into every subject which promised to elevate and refine his fellow men. In his social relations he was a gentleman in the best acceptation of the term. Courteous, affable, and polite to the stranger; generous, warmhearted, and confiding to his friends, he was universally respected and loved.

The sad circumstances of his death make us less reconciled to his loss. Mr. Downing, in company with his wife, and her mother, sister, and younger brother, together with a lady friend, Mrs. Wadsworth, embarked on the Henry Clay, full of buoyancy and joyous expectation, on their way to Newport. Scarce two hours have passed, and that circle is broken. Some are sleeping beneath the Wave, - others are weeping on the shore this wreck of hope and happiness. Mr. Downing, his wife's mother, Mrs. De Wint of Fishkill, and Mrs. Wadsworth, were lost - the remaining members of the party were saved, - Mrs. Downing almost miracuously. As Mr. Downing was an excellent swimmer, he must have been borne down by the crowd, or perished in the attempt to save another's life.

We unite with his personal friends, and the many who are endeared to him by that charm which his writings breathed, in tendering our heartfelt sympathy to Mrs. Downing. We too can mourn that a great mind has been removed from our companionship, - that a noble heart has ceased to beat, - that a life rejoicing in such beauty and promise, has gone out thus early.

This sad event has thrown new duties and responsibilities upon us, which we shall endeavor faithfully to discharge. The taste for rural art which has already sprung up, the growing interest in Horticulture and Floriculture which is manifested on every hand, demand the continuance of a publication like the Horticulturist That spirit of improvement which the well directed energies of our friend was just awakening into life, must not be suffered to die. Fortunately, the position which the Horticulturist has occupied is so well defined, and its past volumes are so replete with value, that we are not left without a guide as to our future course. We leave it for our readers to say how well the expectations held out in the very commencement of the work, have been realised; still it may not be inappropriate to refer to its general design and pur* pose, as expressed in the following language of Mr. Downing:

"In its pages, from month to month, we shall give them a collection of all that can most interest those whose feelings are firmly rooted in the soil, and its kindred avocations. The garden and the orchard ; the hot-honse and the conservatory; the park and the pleasure grounds ; all, if we can read them rightly, shall be made to preach useful lessons in our pages. All fruit-Ail and luxuriant grounds shall we revel in. and delight to honor. Blooming trees, ana fruitful vines, we shall open our lips to praise. And if nature has been over-partial to any one part of the globe, either in good gardens,fair flowers, or good fruits, - if she has any where lavished secret vegetable treasures that our cultivators have not yet made prizes of, we promise our readers to watch closely, and to give a faithful account of them. Skilful cultivators promise to make these sheets the repository of their knowledge. Sound practice, and ingenious theory will be continually developed and illustrated. The humblest cottage garden, as well as the most extended pleasure grounds, will occupy the attention of the pens in our service.

Beautiful flowers shall picture themselves in our columns, till even our sterner utilitarians shall be tempted to admire and cultivate them • and the honeyed, juicy gifts of Pomona shall be treated of till every one who reads shall discover that the most delicious products of .our soil are no longer forbidden fruits. Whatever our own feeble efforts can achieve, whatever our more intelligent correspondents can accomplish, shall be done to render worthy this monthly record of the progress of horticulture and its kindred pursuits. If it is a laudable ambition to 'make two blades of grass grow where only one grew before,' we shall hope for the encouragement and assistance and sympathy of all those who would see our vast territory made smiling with gardens, and rich in all that makes one's country worth living and dying for.'

To carry out the intention here expressed, to so prosecute the work as to urge forward with steadiness of purpose and earnest effort, the impulses which our friend had roused to a good degree of activity, is our aim. The impetus, which, in all its branches, Horticulture has received, has made the demand for more ample information in the details of its successful prosecution, commensurate with its importance. That which, five years ago, would have been needlessly obtrusive, has now become a necessity, such has been the progress in the art of gardening. An increased attention to detail in the practical manipulations of the flower and kitchen garden, is called for, and may, we think, be combined with the more artistic and scientific branches of rural taste*

We are well aware that we shall labor under disadvantages - that he who was the master spirit in this art, is no more; but may we not hope that echoes of his genius will come back to us from the smiling gardens and beauteous landscapes which his taste has rendered so expressive - that some other mind will kindle with the ambition " to make his country worth living and dying for," and that the work which has been so auspiciously commenced, will not cease for lack of laborers.

For the present, we shall continue The Horticulturist under our own immediate direction, but hope, before the close of the current volume, to secure the services of a competent Editor, who will efficiently carry out the spirit and design of the work. In the meantime we earnestly invite the continued correspondence and assistance of those who have hitherto contributed to its pages, and such rough notes of experience as practical gardeners, nurserymen, and cultivators generally, may see fit to favor us with.

It is impossible to enter with too much zeal and enthusiasm, into this work. We cannot, with safety, appropriate the result of horticultural labors in other countries. Our tastes and wants are peculiarly our own, and must be fostered and satisfied with American talent and research. Knowledge in the abstract may satisfy the German mind; the desire of supremacy may stimulate English energy ; the vain-glorious pride of excelling in rare and beautiful products, may induce the Frenchman to exertion, but different motives urge us, as American citizens, to beautify our country, and increase its cultivation. We want the ornamental and useful together, - we require facta as well as theories, - we build houses to live in as well as for effect - we cultivate gardens for profit, as well as beauty. There is, then, a broad field for the student of Horticulture, and a widening sphere for the taste of the amateur. If he " who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before," deserves wetl of his country, how rich will be the reward of him who brings forth the treasures of science to adorn the earth and refine the mind.