NINETEENTH CENTURY 
267 
something towards the progress of gardening. There have 
been practical gardeners and nurserymen, great botanists and 
men of knowledge and daring, whose lives have been risked 
in the cause of science, and to whose courage and perseverance 
the modern garden owes so many of its treasures. HI 
While the rage for landscape gardening was at its height, 
there were many skilful gardeners busy in a quiet way carrying 
on the work of horticulture. One of these was Abercrombie, 
whose writings were popular for many years. He was the 
son of a market-gardener near Edinburgh, and was born in the 
year 1726. The Battle of Preston Pans was fought close to 
his father's garden wall, and he was present at the time. His 
first place as gardener was with Sir James Douglas, and later 
on he married a relative of his former employer. In 1770 he 
settled with his family, consisting of two sons and sixteen 
daughters, between Mile End and Hackney, and there started 
a nursery garden. His first book, Every Man his own Gardener , 
came out in 1767, and he was so afraid of failure that he paid 
Mawe, gardener to the Duke of Leeds, the sum of £20 to allow 
his name also to appear on the title-page. Hence the book 
has become known as the work of Mawe and Abercrombie, 
although the latter wrote it entirely. His other writings, 
Amateur Gardening, The Gardener s Daily Assistant, and such¬ 
like, were equally popular, and were considered the standard 
works on the subject for upwards of fifty years. Another book 
of this date, by William Hanbury, also gives full directions for 
the cultivation of a great number of trees, shrubs, perennial and 
annual hardy flowers, and green-house and stove plants. 1 Many 
which had just been introduced find a place in these books, such 
as the Rhododendron Ponticum, Azalea nudiflora , or “ American 
upright honeysuckle,” as Hanbury calls it; Andromeda polifolia; 
varieties of Allspice ( Calycanthus ), of Sumach {Rhus), and of 
Magnolia {grandiflora and others) ; the snowdrop tree [Halesia), 
Hydrangeas, and Spiraeas, and other hardy plants. There 
were also many additions to the half-hardy and stove plants— 
Crinum capense, or “ lily Asphodel,” and the more tender 
Belladonna lily {Amaryllis Belladonna) . The Scarborough lily 
1 Complete Body of Planting and Gardening, by Wm. Hanbury, 1770. 
2 vols., folio. 
