488 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
March 80, 1901. 
and gave him an idea upon which he im¬ 
proved for his own books and papers. Dr. 
Coventry had given him a large number 
of letters of introduction to noblemen and 
landed proprietors, so that he was soon 
actively and extensively engaged in land¬ 
scape gardening. Accounts of his journeys 
to various parts of England were regularly 
recorded in his journal, together with the 
many improvements upon the existing 
order of things which suggested themselves 
to his mental activity, and which he after¬ 
wards carried out so far as lay in his power. 
Others happened upon some of his discover¬ 
ies in after years and took upon themselves 
the credit of the inventions, without, per¬ 
haps, being aware that he had suggested 
the same thing years before. He was 
frequently urged to assert his prior claim, 
but he always answered that the man who 
made a thing useful to the public had 
greater claims upon the same than its in¬ 
ventor. In this respect Mr. Loudon amply 
testified to the deep seated public spirit that 
possessed him, and the lack of selfishness 
that pervaded his disposition towards his 
fellowmen. When writing a book he strove 
always to get the best possible information 
upon the subject in hand regardless of 
trouble or expense. He was actuated by 
these feelings from his first arrival in 
England till the day of his death and his 
journal abundantly testified the fact. 
The London of Loudon’s first acquaint¬ 
ance must have been vastly different from 
what it is to-day, for he was much struck 
with the gloomy appearance of the gardens 
in the public squares, which were almost 
entirely planted with Scotch Firs, Yews and 
Norway Spruce. They must have had 
peculiar views about town trees in those 
days. During his first year of residence in 
London he published an article in The 
Literary Journal , entitled “ Observations cn 
laying out the Public Squares of London,” 
in which he freely blamed the prevailing 
taste, and advised a more liberal use of 
deciduous trees, including Oriental and 
Occidental Planes, Sycamores, Almonds, 
&c., which would withstand the smoke of 
London that made the evergreens look so 
grimy and gloomy. If smoke was trouble¬ 
some then it must be many times more so 
now. His suggestions have since been 
abundantly realised. About this time he 
became a Fellow of the Linnean Society, 
probably through the influence of Sir Joseph 
Banks (to whom he had a letter of intro¬ 
duction) and who till his death in 1820 
remained his warm friend. At the house 
of Sir Joseph Banks he met most of the 
eminent scientific men of that day, and their 
influence may be traced in his journal. 
Next year (1804) he was employed by the 
Earl of Mansfield, Scone Palace, to alter 
the gardens there, so that he returned to 
Scotland where he stayed for some months, 
and laid out gardens and grounds for 
many landed gentlemen, at the same time 
giving directions for the planting and 
management of woods, draining and other¬ 
wise improving estates. While thus em¬ 
ployed many new ideas occurred to him, 
which he embodied in the form of a book 
which was published in Edinburgh by Con¬ 
stable & Co., and in London by Longman, 
Hurst, Rees and Orme. With Messrs. 
Longman he continued to transact business 
for nearly forty years. In his introduction 
to this book he wrote that trees were the 
most striking objects that adorn the face of 
inanimate nature. Without this accom¬ 
paniment the hills, valleys, rivers, rocks 
and mountains of Europe could but present 
a bleak, savage and uninteresting aspect. 
A naked country, hecontinued, was without 
intricacy to excite curiosity or fix attention, 
and both eye and brain were kept in a state 
of perpetual weariness and fatigue. In a 
wooded country the scene was continually 
changing and the various combinations 
relieved without distracting the eye, and 
engaged the mind without fatiguing it. 
Then he dealt with the utilitarian aspect 
of the question, and the dependence of the 
British Empire for timber to budd its 
“ wooden walls.’’ The planting of timber 
was encouraged by every polished nation. 
Even the Romans were great tree planters 
according to the testimony of some of their 
most celebrated writers. Before leaving 
Edinburgh, he published another book 
entitled A Short Treatise on Some Improve¬ 
ments lately made in Hothouses. 
This last named work is dated 1805, and 
in that year Mr. Loudon returned to 
London, electing to travel by sea. The 
weather proved so rough that he was com¬ 
pelled to break the voyage at Lowestoffe, 
and for that reason took such a disgust at 
the sea that he never again adopted that 
means of transit if it was possible to get to 
his destination by land. On arrival at 
London he at once resumed his labours as 
landscape gardener. The thoughts that 
were uppermost in his mind generally found 
their way to his journal; and amongst 
other ideas committed to paper were some 
opinions as to the best means of harmonis¬ 
ing colours in gardens. Strange to say these 
opinions were very closely duplicated by 
M. Chevreul in his work published in Paris 
in 1839 under the title of De la Loi du Con- 
traste simultane des Couleurs. Loudon’s idea, 
taking the simple colours, blue, red and 
yellow, was that a compound colour should 
be placed next to each of them in arrange¬ 
ments. P'or instance, purple, a mixture of 
blue and red, should have yellow next to it; 
that orange flowers, being a combination of 
red and yellow, should be placed in juxta¬ 
position to clue, and so on. He argues 
that it takes three parts to make a perfect 
whole ; and compared the union of the 
three primitive colours with the common 
chord in music. In whatever way he 
arrived at this conclusion it must be acknow¬ 
ledged that he has had a wide following in 
this line of thought. Besides the expression 
of the same idea by M. Chevreul of Paris, 
it has more recently been confirmed by Mr. 
F. Schuyler Matthews, of Campton, N.H., 
U.S.A., who in 1893 said that it is well 
established knowledge that there is a con¬ 
nection between sound and colour, or in 
other words that harmony in sound and 
harmony in colour have a common basis. 
According to the memoir of Loudon’s life 
the idea had also been worked out by several 
able writers. Loudon also formed the plan 
of a Pictorial Dictionary with the intention 
of accompanying the text with woodcuts. 
In the following year (1806) he published a 
Treatise on Farming with a very lengthy 
title. This was the largest of his earlier 
works and contained some masterly copper 
plate engravings of landscape scenery from 
his own drawings. These with the addi¬ 
tion of descriptions were published as a 
separate work in 1807. 
He was extensively engaged in landscape¬ 
gardening in 1806, and while travelling 
from Tre-Madoc in Carnarvonshire, to 
London, he had to travel on the outside of 
a coach during a night of rain, and, neglect¬ 
ing to change his raiment on arriving at his 
destination, he caught a severe cold, which 
brought on rheumatic fever which finally 
settled in his left knee and left him with a 
stiff joint from which he never recovered. 
The ailment proved a source of annoyance 
to him for the remainder of his life, notwith¬ 
standing his health and vigour of mind at 
the period of contracting the complaint. 
He took lodgings at a farm house, Pinner, 
near Harrow, and while endeavouring to 
recuperate, he passed the time by painting 
landscapes, some of which were hung at 
the Royal Academy ; and learning German, 
paying his expenses by selling translations 
as on former occasions. Greek and Hebrew 
were also studied; and in his journal is 
evidence that he was upbraiding himself 
about the neglect of his studies since he 
came to London three years previously, and 
asking himself what he had done to benefit 
his fellow men, although he was twenty- 
three years of age, and, perhaps, one-third 
of his life had passed away. During his 
stay at Pinner he took a deep interest in 
English farming, and felt anxious to correct 
the faults he had observed. Wood Hall, 
where he had been staying, was to Jet, and 
he wrote to his father explaining the capa¬ 
bilities of the soil and the bad state of the 
husbandry, at the same time urging him 
to take up his abode in England. His 
father coincided with his views and rented 
the farm, where the son continued to reside. 
During the following year the subject of 
these remarks wrote a pamphlet on An 
immediate and effectual Mode of raising the 
Rental of the Landed Property of England. 
.... By a Scotch Farmer. This pamphlet, 
amongst others, attracted the attention of 
General Stratton, the owner of a large estate 
at Tew Park, Oxfordshire, who offered him 
a portion of the property on condition that 
he should undertake the superintendence of 
the whole with the view of improving it. 
Great Tew, the name of the farm taken by 
Loudon, was about 18 miles from Oxford 
and extended to 1,500 acres. He found it 
very badly laid out for husbandry and 
devoid of proper roads. The buildings upon 
it and drainage were equally bad. Mr. 
Loudon established upon it a sort of college 
for agricultural students, many ofthem sons 
of landowners, whom he took under his own 
personal supervision. Others intended for 
land-stewards and farm-bailiffs were placed 
under his bailiff. In 1809 he published 
another pamphlet concerning the college at 
Great Tew and the improvements effected 
upon the same. 
A passage in this work refers to his 
favourite pursuit of landscape gardening 
and the unfortunate circumstance that pre¬ 
vented him from carrying it out or rather 
from pursuing it as his life work and entire 
means of subsistence. Memoranda which he 
left show, however, that he still continued 
the superintendence of landscape work of 
considerable importance in various parts 
of England, Wales and Ireland, till the end 
of 1812. Previous to this he had given up 
Great Tew, and finding that hehad accumu¬ 
lated something like ^"15,000, he resolved 
to relax his labours somewhat, and go 
abroad in quest of knowledge. Before 
doing so he published a work on the laying 
out of pleasure grounds, the construction 
of plant houses, planting, &c. ; and 
another on Scotch farming in England. 
The last named work contained many 
interesting particulars about Great Tew, 
rented by himself and the two farms, Wood 
Hall and Kenton Lane, rented by his father. 
The latter had only been in England from 
1807 till his death in December 1809, when 
his farms were re-let at an advance of ^300 
on the previous rental. Loudon also 
recived a considerable sum for the lease, 
stock and improvements he had effected 
between 1808 and 1811. 
(To be continued.) 
Covert.—To form a dense, warm, and strong covert 
which will combine also beauty and neatness, we can 
recommend the common Laurel Cherry (Prunus 
Laurocerasus). It requires of course to be lept 
pruned. 
