He was mainly self-educated, though he did spend time at the Union Classical and Engineering School at Providence. He became a pharmacist, and lectured on chemistry at the
Franklin Society in Providence. In 1850, he secured an appointment as botanist, quartermaster and commissary on a
survey of the boundary between the United States and Mexico. He made an important collection of plants, and on his return to Providence was given the degree of A.M. by
Brown University. He secured an appointment in the
Assay Office in New York, lectured on botany in
Cooper Institute and on botany and materia medica in the
New York College of Pharmacy. Later he occupied the chair of botany and horticulture in the
Michigan College of Agriculture but returned again to New York and to lecture at the College of Pharmacy and in 1863 became editor of the
American Agriculturist, where he worked for 24 years. In 1880 he visited Europe. He was life member of the
Royal Horticultural Society, life member of the
American Pomological Society, an active member of the
New York Academy of Sciences and corresponding member of the
Philadelphia Academy. From 1873 to 1880, he was the
Torrey Botanical Club's president. His collection of plants from the western United States is in the
Gray Herbarium at
Harvard University. ==Awards and honors==