LIFE OF JOHN C. LOUDON. 



and ho bpprnn to collect materials for the well-known Rncyelnpeedia of Oardenivy. 

 It is probahlc tliat the first idea of this work had occurred to him while he was 

 travelling:, from the great nnmlier of }z;ardens he had seen, and the various modes 

 of frardening that he had f(jund i)rac'tised in ditfercnt countries. At any rate, he 

 determined to commence his work with a history of frardciiinfr, and a description 

 of the irardens of various countries, introdMcinp^ illustrative drawings engraved on 

 wood, and printed with the text, tins lieing. I helieve, the first time any engravings, 

 except mere outlines, had l)een ])riiited in that manner. It was necessary, in order 

 to complete his jilan, that he should see the gardens of France and Italy, in the 

 same manner as he had seen those of the North of Europe ; and, for this iturpose, 

 he determined to set out on another tour, though his health was at that time so 

 very inditlVrent, that one of his friends, who saw liin» at Dover, told him he looked 

 more fit to keep his bed than to set out on a journey. ISlr. Loudon, however, was 

 not easily deterred from anything that he had resolved upon, and he proceeded by 

 way of Calais and Abljcville to Paris, where he arrived on the 30th of May, 1819. 

 After seeing everything deserving of notice in Paris, and becoming acquainted 

 with many eminent men there, from the letters of introduction given to him by 

 his kind friend. Sir Josejjh Banks, he left, on the 10th of June, for Lyons, in the 

 Botanic Garden of which city, he saw, for the first time, a living ])lant of the 

 Vallisncria, which had not then been introduced into England, and which he had 

 only seen in a dry state, in the Ilortus Siccus of Sir Joseph. From Lyons he 

 went to Avignon, and then he visited the celebrated fountain of Yaucluse. After- 

 wards he proceeded to Marseilles, and thence to Nice, from which city he sailed, 

 in a felucca, for Genoa. 



During the whole of his tour through France, he visited the gardens everywhere, 

 and made memoranda of everything that he thought would be useful for his in- 

 tended work. He also made sketches of all the principal places, as he had previously 

 done in the North of Europe. 



Before leaving Genoa, he procured a collection of orange-trees, which he sent 

 to England for his greenhouse at Bayswater. He also saw, for the first time, slate 

 boxes used for orange-trees, in the garden of Signore di Negre, near Genoa. In 

 this city, also, he first met with his friend, Captain Mangles; and joining him and 

 the late Captain Irby, they travelled together along the shores of the Mediterra- 

 nean, leaving Genoa on the 6th of July, in a felucca, for Leghorn, where they 

 arrived on the 8th, and thence proceeded through Pisa to Florence. During the 

 whole of this tour, Mr. Loudon's Journal is entirely filled with descriptions of the 

 gardens he visited, observations on the different modes of culture he saw practised, 

 and various remarks on the habits of plants. One of the latter, which appears 

 to me worth recording, is, that he found Saxifraga crassifolia killed by a very slight 

 frost in Florence, though it will bear a considerable degree of cold in more northern 

 climates. From Florence he went to Kome, and thence to Naples ; after which he 

 visited Pompeii and Herculaneum, returning through Rome to Florence, Venice, 

 &c. In these cities, he visited all that is generally considered worth seeing, and, 

 of course, did not neglect his favorite gardens. 



As soon as he reached home, he began the Encydojiced'ia of Gardening, at which 

 he worked, with little intermission, till it was finished, though he was suffering 

 severely at the time from chronic rheumatism in his right arm ; the pain from 

 which became at length so intolerable, that, in 1820, he was compelled to call in 

 medical aid ; and, being recommended to try Mahomed's vapor baths, he went 

 down to Brighton for that purpose. Here, notwithstanding the extreme torture 

 he suffered from the shampooing and stretching, he submitted to both with so 

 much patience, that they were continued by the ojjerators till they actually broke 



