18t7.] 



AND HORTIGULTURIST. 



155 



[The double seed is interesting, as is the in- 

 quiry about the rotting of seeds. We know that 

 Pumpkin and Squash will remain out in the 

 ground and grow in Spring. We have not seen 

 cases of Melons and Cucumbers, but have no 



doubt that they will ; and yet, as S. says, they 

 rot easily in the ground if planted in Spring 

 before their time. Guessing at the cause of 

 this difterence would do little good. It is worthy 

 ot a patient investigation. Ed. G. M.] 



ITERATURE, CjRAVELS & PERSONAL S^TES. 



C03IMUNICA TIONS. 



GARDENING GOSSIP OF THE OLDEN TIME. 



BY A. H. WILSON. 

 (Concluded from page 121.) 



To turn, however, from these establishments 

 where we have perhaps lingered too long. There 

 were in that day many men of mark outside, 

 who w^ere more or less connected with them, 

 and intimately with the profession. John Clau- 

 dius Loudon having with his characteristic skill 

 and unwearied industry compiled his bulky 

 Encyclojiaedias of Gardening, Agriculture, Plants, 

 and Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture, was 

 busily engaged on his last great work, the En- 

 cyclopaedia of Trees and Shrubs (Arboretum 

 etFruticetum Britannicum). Having, when a 

 young man, been seriously injured by machinery 

 he labored under great physical disadvantages, 

 but was ably assisted by Messrs. Ranch, Masters, 

 (now Dr. Masters, the well-known savant,) and 

 others; but especially by his talented and de- 

 voted wife, herself an authoress on her own ac- 

 count, of several novels and /gardening books, 

 with which lady amateurs, in particular are 

 familiar, as well as editress of some of her late 

 husband's works. All who are acquainted with 

 Loudon's writings— and what professional son of 

 Adam is not? — will admit that without absolute 

 prolixity, he is most prolific in ideas and profuse 

 in illustrations ; his subject grows upon him and 

 he treats it in every possible aspect. The story 

 goes that his publishers, Longman & Co., wish- 

 ing to have an abridgement of " Abercrombie's 

 Gardener's Manual " — a book which, (if I rightly 

 remember the title and price,) was sold at about 

 $2 or $2.50— placed it in Loudon's hands for that 

 purpose. In an incredibly short time he pro- 

 duced the sheets of the Encyclopasdia of Garden- 

 ing, containing at least ten times the amount of 

 matter, he was commissioned to abridge. Long- 



man, of course, rejected them as an abridgement 

 but Loudon found the means to publish the book, 

 and as it was selling freely at $12.50, Longman 

 was glad to secure the copyright after all. 

 Robert Sweet had then finished his Flower Gar- 

 den; the Botanical Cabinet wsis then being con- 

 ducted by Loddiges, the Botanical Magazine by 

 Hooker, Botanist by Maund, the Magazine of 

 Botany by Pax ton, the Cfardener's Magazine by 

 Loudon, the Botanical Register by Lindley, who 

 in addition to his numerous other botanical 

 works, started the Gardener's CJironicle a few 

 years afterwards, and edited it up to the time of 

 his death. 



Of nurserymen, Loddiges of Hackney, had the 

 finest collection and largest specimens of Palms, 

 Screw Pines, Tree Ferns and similar plants in 

 England; in after years, when the lease of the 

 grounds had expired, and the stock was to be 

 sold, a glorious opportunity was oflfered to Sir 

 Joseph Paxton, who purchased and transferred 

 most of the best to the Crystal Palace then just 

 erected, where after flourishing for a few years, 

 they were unfortunately destroyed by fire, and 

 could not be replaced. Joseph Knight waa 

 almost as celebrated for new and good things in 

 his place at Chelsea, as his successors, Veitch & 

 Son, (formerly of Exeter,) are in the present day ; 

 Chandler, at Vauxhall, was noted for his vast and 

 varied collection of Camellias; RoUissons, of 

 Tooting, were coming to the front with Orchids. 

 There were the Lees, of long standing, at Ham- 

 mersmith ; Ronalds at Brentford ; Wheatly at 

 Fulham ; Lowe at Clapton ; and others of familiar 

 name and high standing in and about London, 

 beside provincial celebrities, Lucombe, Exeter ; 

 Pontey, Plymouth; Skirving, Liverpool; Cree, 

 Addlestone ; and Dicksons, of note in almost 

 every large town in Britain. Wilmot was grow- 

 ing his strawberries and raising new sorts at 

 Islewort; Chapman, grapes at Vauxhall ; Myatt, 

 rhubarb at Deptford ; Grayson, cultivating his 



