THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July 27, 1858. 
with equal kindness. Our munificent and noble-minded 
friend, Joseph Strutt, Esq., took ten copies; and letters from 
two of our kindest friends (William Spence, Esq., and Robert 
Chambers, Esq.), ordering copies of the ‘Arboretum,’ arrived 
the very day he died. 
“ This appeal was principally rendered necessary by the pe¬ 
cuniary difficulties I have alluded to, and which, undoubtedly, 
hastened his death. The debt on the ‘ Arboretum,’ which, 
as already stated, was originally £10,000, had, by the sale oi 
that book and of the ‘ Cottage Architecture,’ been reduced to 
£2,400; but he had incurred an additional debt of £1,200 by 
publishing the ‘ Encyclopaedia of Trees and Shrubs,’ his edi¬ 
tion of ‘ Repton,’ and other works on his own account, though 
all his creditors agreed to the same terms, viz., to wait for 
their money until they were paid by the sale of the works 
themselves, on condition of Messrs. Longman holding the 
stock of books in trust, and not paying any of the proceeds of 
the work to Mr. Loudon till the demands of his creditors 
were fully satisfied. Unfortunately, however, one of the 
creditors, the engraver, became a bankrupt, and his as¬ 
signees began to harass Mr. Loudon for the debt due to 
them, which was about £1,500, threatening to make him a 
bankrupt, to arrest him for the sum, &c. 1 believe they could 
not have carried their threats into execution without the con¬ 
sent of Mr. Spottiswoode, and Messrs. Smith and Chapman, 
who were the other creditors, and who behaved most kindly and 
honourably throughout. Bat the agitation attendant on the 
numerous letters and consultations respecting this affair 
proved fatal to my poor husband. 
“ On Wednesday, the 13th of December, 1843, he sent me 
to London to see the assignees, and to endeavour to bring 
them to terms, our kind and excellent friend, the late Mr. 
Joseph Strutt, having promised to lend us money for that pur¬ 
pose. The assignees, however, refused to accept the terms we 
offered, unless Mr. Loudon would also give up to them his 
edition of ‘ Repton,’ which he was most unwilling to do, as 
the debt on that work was comparatively small; and, con¬ 
sequently, he had reason to hope that the income produced by 
it would be soonest available for the support of his family. 
He was accordingly very much agitated when I told him the 
result of my mission ; but he did not, on that account, relax 
in his exertions; on the contrary, he continued dictating 
‘ Self-Instruction ’ till twelve o’clock at night. When he went 
to bed he conld not sleep, and the next morning he rose before 
it was light. He then told me tliat he had determined to 
sacrifice his edition of ‘ Repton ’ in order to have his affairs 
settled before he died; adding, ‘ but it will break my heart to 
do so.’ He repeated, however, that he would make the sacri¬ 
fice, but he seemed reluctant to send me into town to give his 
consent; and most fortunate was it, as, if I had gone to town 
that morning, I should not have been with him when he died. 
He now appeared very ill, and told me he thought he should 
never live to finish ‘ Self-Instruction ; ’ but that he would ask 
his friend, Dr. Jamieson, to whom he had previously spoken 
on the subject, to finish the work for liim. Soon after this 
he became very restless, and walked several times from the 
drawing-room to his bed-room and back again. I feel that I 
cannot continue these melancholy details : it is sufficient to say, 
that though his body became weaker every moment, his mind 
retained ail its vigour to the last, and that he died standing on 
I his feet. Fortunately, I perceived a change taking place in 
his countenance, and I had just time to clasp my arms around 
him, to save him from falling, when his head sank upon my 
shoulder, and he was no more. 
“ I do not attempt to give any description of the talents or 
character of my late husband as an author; his works are 
before the world, and by them he will be judged ; but I trust 
I may be excused for adding, that in his private capacity he 
was equally estimable as a husband and a father, and as a 
master and a friend. He was also a most dutiful son and 
most affectionate brother. 
“ It was on the anniversary of the death of Washington 
(the 14th of December) that Mr. Loudon died, and he was 
buried on the 21st of December, in the cemetery at Ivensall 
Green. When the coffin was lowered into the grave, a stranger 
stepped forward from the crowd and threw in a few strips of 
Ivy. This person, I was afterwards informed, was an artificial 
flower maker, who felt grateful to Mr. Loudon for having given 
him, though a stranger, tickets for admission to the Ilorti- 
259 
cultural Gardens, and who, never having been able to thank 
Mr. Loudon in person, took this means of paying a tribute to 
his memory.” 
The compilations made by herself, by which Mrs. Loudon 
is most known to the public, are entitled—“ The Lady’s 
Flower-Garden “ The Lady’s Country Companion “ Gar¬ 
dening for Ladies“ British Wild Flowers and “ The 
Lady’s Companion to the Flower Garden.” The last-men¬ 
tioned work has had a circulation of more than 20,000 copies. 
It may be added that her tastes are inherited by Miss Agnes 
Loudon, her only daughter, who is the authoress of several 
children’s books, and various tales and sketches. Mrs. 
Loudon was in the enjoyment of a pension of £100 per 
annum from the Civil List, granted to her in recognition of 
the literary services rendered by herself and husband. 
NOTES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF BULBS 
AND TUBERS. 
By Thilo Iemisch. 
(.Abridged from the German original.) 
I. LILIACEOUS PLANTS. 
Allium ursinum , L. 
The slender bulb of this plant, when the fruit is ripe, pre¬ 
sents the following structure At its base is the axal portion 
of the last year’s plant, which is now very short, and which, 
like the few fibres which still adhere to it, is quite dead (Fig. 
1, a). Very rarely two new bulbs adhere to the old axis. 
The young filiform roots, which are but slightly branched, 
and are sprinkled with delicate hairs, spring from the base of 
this year’s axis, perforating the lower part of the bulb. 
The bulb is surrounded by a single row of bristle-shaped 
short threads (Fig. 1, c) without any dry skins. The outer 
portion is at this time formed of the white membranaceous 
transparent sheaths of the outer or lower leaf (Fig. 1, cl), 
which is of some height, and from whose contracted orifice 
the flower-stem (e) and the petiole of the second leaf (f) 
protrude. If the position of the lamina of this outer leaf 
with respect to its sheath be accurately examined, it appears 
that that surface (j8), which, on account of the brightness of 
its cuticle and its peculiar form, is to all appearance the upper 
surface, is turned from the aperture of the sheath, while in 
other plants it is turned towards it; whereas the surface, 
which, to judge from the dull aspect of the cuticle, the keel¬ 
like projection of the midrib, as well as the margins which are 
somewhat rolled back towards the tip, and the arching back of 
the tip itself, is the under surface, forms, apparently, the 
continuation of the inner surface of the sheath, produced by 
the petiole. On this side there are abundant stomata, whereas 
those on the other side are few in number. There the walls 
of the cells are undulated, here quite straight. This irregu¬ 
larity, however, vanishes on closer inspection; for then it 
appears that the true upper surface has assumed all the pecu¬ 
liarities of the lower surface, the dull aspect of the cuticle, 
&c., while the real lower surface has the usual brilliancy, &c., 
of the upper surface ; and this takes place with various modi- j 
fications, sometimes merely from a bending forward of the leaf 
so as to expose the under surface to the influence of light, 
and sometimes from various degrees of torsion of the petiole. 
The second leaf (f), which projects from the sheath of the 
first, exhibits the same phenomena. It does not, however, by 
any means surround the flower-stem with its sheath, but it 
stands in the axil which the first leaf makes with it, and is 1 
turned with its external surface (Figs. 2, 3) to the peduncle, 
and with the other side (5) to the medial line of the first leaf. 
It belongs, therefore, to a lateral axis ; the back of its sheath, 
which is far shorter than that of the first leaf, is thick and 
fleshy (Fig. 3) : the front is far less so. The bore of the 
sheath is extremely narrow, since the dorsal and frontal 
portion rest on each other, and it appears in a transverse 
section (Fig. 4, e) as a curved fissure whose convex side 
is directed forwards. At the bottom of this cavity a little 
bud (Fig. 3, g) is found. The form of the bulb is derived 
from this sheath, since that of the first leaf, in consequence 
of its membranaceous substance, adds little to the thickness. 1 
After flowering the leaves quickly fade ; the first leaf by 
