LIFE OF JOHN C. LOUDON. 



At the house of Sir Joseph, Mr. Loudon met most of the eminent scientific men 

 of that clay, and the effect produced by their conversation on his active mind, may 

 be traced in his Journal. Among many other interesting memoranda of new ideas 

 that struck him about tliis period, is one as to the expediency of trying the effects 

 of charcoal on vegetation, from having observed the beautiful verdure of the grass 

 on a spot where eliarcoal had been burnt. 



In 1804, having been employed by the Earl of Mansfield to make some plans 

 for altering the Palace Gardens at Scone, in Perthshire, he returned to Scotland, 

 and remained there several months, laying out grounds for many noblemen and 

 gentlemen. While thus engaged, and while giving directions for planting and 

 managing woods, and on the best mode of draining and otherwise improving 

 estates, several ideas struck him, which he afterwards embodied in a book pub- 

 lished in Edinburgh and in London. This, then, was the first work of Mr. Lou- 

 don's presented to the public through the JNIessrs. Longman, with whom he con- 

 tinued to transact business of the same nature for nearly forty years. The book 

 alluded to was entitled "Observations on the Formation. and Management of Use- 

 ful and Ornamental Plantations ; on the Tiieory and Practice of Landscape-Gar- 

 dening, and on Gaining and Embanking Land from Rivers or the Sea."' This 

 was his first separate Avork, and shows how strongly his mind was, even in his 

 youth, imbued with the subject of his profession, though he was then apparently 

 disposed to treat it in a different style from what he did in after years. 



The work is divided into sections, in one of which, in particular, on the princi- 

 pal distinctions of trees and shrubs, are some very interesting observations, which 

 show how well their author was acquainted with the characteristics of trees and 

 shrubs even at that early period of his life. Before Mr. Loudon left Edinburgh, 

 he published another work, entitled "A Short Treatise on some Improvenjents 

 lately made in Hothouses." This was in 1805; and the same year he returned 

 to England. On this second voyage to London, he was compelled, by stress of 

 weather, to land at Lowestoffe ; and he took such a disgust at the sea, that he 

 never afterwards travelled by it, if it was possible to go by land. He now re- 

 sumed his labors as a landscape-gardener ; and his Journal is filled with the 

 observations he made, and the ideas that suggested themselves of improvements, 

 on all he saw. Among other things, he made some remarks on the best mode of 

 harmonizing colors in flower gardens, which accord, in a very striking manner, 

 with the principles afterwards laid down by M. Chevreul in his celebrated work, 

 entitled De la Lot du Oontraste simultane des Coideurs, published in Paris, in 

 1839. Mr. Loudon states that he had observed that flower gardens looked best 

 when the flowers were so arranged as to have a compound color next the simple one 

 which was contained in it. Thus, as there are only three simple colors — blue, red, 

 and yellow — he advises that purple flowers, which are composed of blue and red, 

 should have yellow next them ; that orange flowers, which are composed of red 

 and yellow, should be contrasted with blue ; and that green flowers, which are 

 composed of blue and yellow, should be relieved by red. He accounts for this on 

 the principle that three parts are required to make a perfect whole ; and he com- 

 pares the union of the three primitive colors formed in this manner with the com- 

 mon chord in music ; an idea which has since been worked out by several able 

 writers. He had also formed the plan of a Pictorial Dictionary, which was to 

 embrace every kind of subject, and to be illustrated by finished wood-cuts printed 

 with the type. 



In 1806, Mr, Loudon published his "Treatise on Forming, Improving, and 

 Managing Country Residences, and on the Choice of Situations approprin 

 Class of Purchasers. With an Appendix containing an Inquiry into 



