Loudon, John Claudius 1783-1843

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Loudon was an outstanding landscape gardener and horticultural writer. He rented a large farm where he took pupils in agriculture but after making considerable profit on this venture, gave up the farm, dismissed his pupils and traveled extensively in Europe.

His works on every branch of horticulture raised the field to a higher position than it had ever enjoyed. He gave clear, accurate and complete information concerning the details of the various practices.

Encyclopedia of Gardening (1822) and Arboretum et Fruitcetum Britannicum (1838) are examples of his industry and became valuable works of reference. Other books included:

Encyclopedia of Plants (1802)
A Short Treatise on Hothouses (1805)
A Treatise on Country Residences (1806)
Hortus Britannicus (1830)
The Suburban Gardener (1838)
The Suburban Horticulturist (1843)
Self-Instruction for Young Gardeners (1845)

He began to publish the monthly Gardeners Magazine in 1826 and continued with it until his death. Its circulation declined after 1831 with the appearance of Paxton's Horticultural Register. At one time he actually edited five monthly publications. He became so heavily in debt in preparing and publishing Arboretum that he resumed work as a landscape gardener, while two of his sisters learned wood engraving and his wife began to write books on her own account. He published a work on the laying out of cemeteries in 1843. His last book, Self-Instruction for Young Gardeners, was dictated to his wife until midnight of the day before he died. He had taxed his health far beyond his capacity in order to pay off his debts. Probably few horticultural writers have worked against such severe physical handicaps.