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 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.
From the description of Pomological variety notes, 1851-1900, n. d. (Iowa State University). WorldCat record id: 226318854
