22O Gleanings in Old Garden Literature. 



Loudon was not an antiquary, nor did he, 

 I believe, profess to be one ; and he com- 

 mitted many errors in regard to the original 

 introduction of trees, herbs, and flowers into 

 Britain. But his books, and his wife's too, 

 mark a distinct epoch in the literary as well 

 as the technical history of arboriculture and 

 gardening, just as the publication of Miller's 

 Dictionary, and the exertions of several 

 of Miller's contemporaries, Abercrombie, 

 Weston, Forsyth, and others, had done in 

 the eighteenth century. 



Besides the valuable labours of Mr. 

 Loudon in flower and tree culture, his wife, 

 who informs us that she owed all her ac- 

 quaintance with the subject to his instruc- 

 tions and encouragement, wrote those very 

 useful and still favourite manuals, Gardening 

 for Ladies and The Ladies' Companion to the 

 Flower Garden. Both were frequently re- 

 printed. I have the sixth edition of the 

 former (1843), and the seventh of the latter 

 (1858). It seems to have been about 1830 

 that this accomplished lady first entered on 

 her experiences. 



