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JOUBNAIi OF HOBTICUIiXDBB AND OOITAGB QABDENEB. 



[ May 8, 1877. 



and pnbUshed. These extensive aod laborioaa works following 

 closely npon eaoh other, in Mr. London's state of health, speak 

 strongly as to his unparalleled energy of mind. When, shortly 

 after, his right arm was broken a seoond time, and he was 

 obliged to submit to amputation, though he gave up landscape 

 gardening, it was only to devote himself more assiduously to 

 his pen. He was, however, now no longer able to write or 

 draw himself, and he was compelled to employ both an amanu- 

 ensis and a draughtsman. Still, though he had only the use 

 of the third and little finger of hia left hand, he would fre- 

 quently take a pen or a pencil and make sketches with aston- 

 ishing vigour, so as fully to explain to his draughtsman what 

 be wished to be done. 



Daring the time that he was suffering bo severely from the 

 pain in his arm he found no ease but from taking laudanum, 

 and he became at last so habituated to the use of this noxious 

 potion that he took a wineglassfal every eight hours. After 

 the amputation of his arm, however, he wished to leave ofi 

 taking it, as he was aware of its injarions effects npon his 

 general health ; and he contrived to care himself by putting a 

 wineglassful of water into his quart bottle of laudanum every 

 time he took out a wineglassfal of the potion, so that the 

 mixture became gradually weaker every day, till at last it was 

 little more than water, and he foand he had cured himself of 

 this dangerous habit without experiencing any inconvenience. 



In 1826 he established " The Gardener's Magazine," the 

 first periodical devoted exclusively to horticultural subjects. 

 This work was always Mr. Loudon's favourite, and the organ 

 through which he communicated his own thoughts and feelings 

 to the public. It was originally undertaken principally for 

 the benefit of gardeners in the country, in order to put them 

 " on a footing with those about the metropolis ;" but it soon 

 became the universal means of communication among gar- 

 deners, and was of incalculable benefit to them. It also became 

 a source of great pleasure to amateurs of gardening, and was 

 no doubt the means of inspiring a taste for the pursuit in many 

 who had before been indifferent to it. " In an art so univer- 

 sally practised as gardening, and one daily undergoing so much 

 improvement," Mr. London observes, " a great many occur- 

 rences must take place worthy of being recorded, not only for 

 the entertainment of gardening readers, but for the instruction 

 of practitioners in the art." — [Gard. Mag., vol. i., p. 1.) That 

 this work met the wants of a large class of readers is evident 

 from four thousand copies of the first namber having been sold 

 in a few days, and from the work having continued popular 

 for nineteen years, and in fact till its close at the death of its 

 conductor. 



In the year 1828 " The Magazine of Natural History " was 

 begun, being the first work of its kind ; and this work, though 

 not quite so successful as " The Gardener's Magazine," was 

 very popular, and has bad numerous imitators. Towards the 

 close of this year Mr. Loudon paid another visit to the Con- 

 tinent to obtain information for a new edition of the " En- 

 cyclopKdia of Agriculture." After traversing France he pro- 

 ceeded through Straaburgh to Munich and Stuttgard ; he 

 afterwards visited Heidelberg and Carlsrhue, and returned by 

 Metz to Paris, and thence to England. In " The Gardener's 

 Magazine " for 1828 he began to give an account of this tour, 

 and he continued it through several of the succeeding volumes, 

 interspersing the descriptions of the various places he saw 

 with a mass of valuable reflections on various subjects, which 

 he conceived would be useful to gardeners. 



In 1830 he married, and immediately after his marriage 

 began to rewrite the " Encyclopaedia of Gardening," which 

 was published in the course of the year 1831. On the 1st of 

 October, 1830, he published the first part of a work in atlas 

 folio, entitled " Illustrations of Landscape Gardening and 

 Garden Architecture ;" but, from the very expensive nature of 

 the work and the limited number of subscribers, he found it 

 necessary to discontinue it, and it did not proceed beyond the 

 third part, which appeared in 1833. In the beginning of the 

 year 1831 he had an application to lay out a botanic garden 

 at Birmingham, and he agreed to do it merely on the payment 

 of his expenses. Mr. Paxton's " Horticultural Begister " was 

 the first rival to " The Gardener's Magazine," which at the 

 time produced £750 a-year ; but which gradually decreased 

 from the appearance of " The Horticultural Register" till the 

 period of Mr. Loudon's death, immediately after which it was 

 given up. 



In 1882 Mr. Loudon commenced his " Encyclopaedia of 

 Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture," which was the first 

 work he ever published on his own account ; and in which 



says Mrs. Loudon, I was his sole amanuensis, though he had 

 several draughtsmen. The labour that attended this work 

 was immense, and for several months he and I used to sit up 

 the greater part of every night, never having more than four 

 hours' sleep, and drinking strong ooSee to keep ourselves 

 awake. The " First Additional Supplement " to the " Hortoa 

 Britannicus " was also prepared and published in 1832. 



The great success of the " Cottage Architecture," which is 

 perhaps the best and most useful of all Mr. Loudon's works, 

 tempted him to publish the " Arboretum Britannicum " also 

 on his own account. He had long intended to write a work 

 on the hardy trees of Great Britain, but he did not con- 

 template the expenses which he should incur by so doing. 

 When, however, the " Arboretum " was once begun he found 

 it was impossible to compress it into the limits originally 

 intended, and in his determination to make the work as per- 

 fect as possible he involved himself in the difficulties which 

 hastened his death. Notwithstanding the immense labour 

 attending the " Arboretum," which was published in monthly 

 numbers, Mr. London, in March, 1834, began the " Archi- 

 tectural Magazine," the first periodical devoted exclusively to 

 architecture; though, like " The Magazine of Natural History " 

 and " The Gardener's Magazine," it only served as a pioneer 

 to clear the way for others, which afterwards followed in the 

 same course with much greater success. 



From the year 1833 to midsummer 1838 Mr. Loudon under- 

 went the most extraordinary exertions both of mind and body. 

 Having resolved that all the drawings of trees for the " Arbo- 

 retum " should be made from nature he had seven artists con- 

 stantly employed, and he was frequently in the open air with 

 them from his breakfast at seven in the morning till he came 

 home to dinner at eight in the evening, having remained the 

 whole of that time without taking the slightest refreshment, 

 and generally without even sitting down. After dinner he 

 resumed the literary part of the work, and continued vniting, 

 with me as his amanuensis, till two or three o'clock in the 

 morning. Hia constitution was naturally very strong, but it 

 was impossible for any human powers to bear for any lengthened 

 period the fatigue he underwent. In 1836 he began " The 

 Suburban Gardener," which was also published in monthly 

 numbers, so that he had five monthly works going on at the 

 same time. He soon found, however, that three monthly 

 works besides the " Arboretum" were as much as his health 

 would permit him to undertake the management of, and he dis- 

 posed of " The Magazine of Natural History " to Mr. Charles- 

 worth. In 1838 he also gave up "The Architectural Maga- 

 zine," and at midsummer in that year he finished the " Ar- 

 boretum Britannicum." He was now in circumstances that 

 would have diaoonraged almost any person but himself. His 

 health was very seriously injured, partly by what was supposed 

 to be a liver complaint, and partly by an enormous swelling in 

 hia right knee, which some of the most eminent medical men 

 in London supposed to be produced by a disease in the bone. 



In 1839 Mr. Loudou began to lay out the arboretum so 

 nobly presented by the late Joseph Strutt, Esq., to the town 

 of Derby. In the same year he published hia edition of 

 Bepton and his " Second Additional Supplement to the HortUB 

 Britannicus." In 1810 he accepted the editorship of " The 

 Gardener's Gazette," which, however, he only retained about 

 a year. 



la December, 1811, appeared the first number of the "En- 

 cyclopffidia of Trees and Shrubs," the work consisting of ten 

 monthly numbers. The abridgement of the " Hortus LignosuB 

 Londinensia " was published immediately on the conclusion of 

 the " Encycloptedia of Trees and Shrubs," and in May, 1812, 

 appeared the " Firat Additional Supplement to the Encyclo- 

 paedia of Cottage Architecture." 



In addition to the works which have been enumerated Mr. 

 London contributed to several others, such as the " Encyolo- 

 psedia of Domestic Economy " and " Brande's Dictionary of 

 Science, Literature, and Art." He also wrote the article Plant- 

 ing for the new edition of thb " Encyclopiedia Britannica." 



Early in March, 1812, he had an attack of inflammation of 

 the lunge, and on his recovery we went down to Brighton for 

 some weeks. We-afterwards made a tonr through Somerset- 

 shire, Devonshire, and part of Cornwall ; and on our return 

 to Exeter Mr. Loudon went to Barnataple, in the neighbour- 

 hood of which he was about to lay out some grounds for Lord 

 Clinton. When he returned home I noticed that he had a 

 slight cough, but as it was trifling it did not make me uneasy, 

 particularly as hia spirits were good. He now finished Ma 

 " Sulurban Horticulturiat," which had been begun two yeara 



