- LOUDON, JOHN CLAUDIUS, was born at Cambuslang in Lanark shire, on the 8th of April 1783, where his mother's only sister, who was the mother of Dr. Claudius Buchanan, author of Christian Researches in Asia,' then resided. His father was a farmer, and lived at None Hall, near Gogar, about five miles from Edinburgh. Aa a child, Loudon exhibited a taste for gardening. He was early sent to reside with an uncle at Edinburgh in order that he might be educated, and here he attended a public school, and also the classes on botauy and chemistry. In addition to the Latin he learned at school, ho obtained a knowledge of French and Italian, and paid his masters himself out of the proceeds of translations from these lauguages, which be sold. At the age of fourteen be was placed with a nursery man and landscape gardener, and continued his attendance on the classes of botany and chemistry, and to these he added agriculture, in the University of Edinburgh. During this period he acquired the habit of sitting up two nights every week for the purpose of study, a habit which he continued for many years.
In 1803 Loudon first came to London, and, as he brought good recommendations from Edinburgh, he found no difficulty in getting employment in his profession of a landscape gardener. One of his earliest literary efforts was made this year in the form of a paper contributed to the 'Literary Journal,' entitled Observations on Laying Out the Public Squares of London.' It was the practice when this article was published to adorn the squares of London with a very sombre vegetation, consisting of yews, pines, and other heavy plants.
This practice the author strongly condemned, and recommended the lighter trees, as the oriental plane, the sycamore, the almond, and others, which are now generally cultivated, and add greatly to the beauty of London squares. In 1804 he returned to Scotland, and in the same year he published his first work, entitled Observations on the Formation and Management of Useful and Ornamental Plantations,' 8vo, London. He returned to England in 1805, and published a small work, entitled 'A Short Treatise on some Improvements lately made in Hothouses,' Biro, Edinburgh. In 1500 he published a 'Treatise on Forming, Improving, and Managing Country Residences, and on the Choice of Situations eppropriate to every Class of Purchasers,' 8vo, Loudon. This work was illustrated with thirty-two copperplate engravings of landscape scenery drawn by the author.
In 1806 an accident turned his attention to farming. Travelling one night on the outside of a coach, exposed to the rain, and neglecting to change his clothes, he became attacked with rheumatio fever, which left him ao debilitated that for the sake of his health he took lodgings at Pinner, near Harrow. Here he had an opportunity of observing the inferior farming then practised in England, and persuaded his father to take a farm near London. The result was that, conjointly with bis father, he rented Wood Ilall; and such was their success that the following year Loudon wrote a pamphlet entitled 'An Imme diate and Effectual Mode of Raising the Rental of the Landed Property of England, &c., by a Scotch Farmer, now Farming in Middlesex.' This led to his introduction to General Stratton, the owner of Tew Park in Oxfordshire, and his undertaking the management of this estate as a tenant. Here he established a kind of agricultural college, in which he engaged to teach young men the principles of farming ; and in 1509 he wrote a pamphlet on the subject entitled The Utility of Agricultural Knowledge to the Sons of the Landed Proprietors of Great Britain, &c., by a Scotch Farmer and Land-Agent' He carried
on his farming so successfully that in 1612 ho found himself worth 15,0001., and being more anxious for the cultivation of his mind than the improvement of his circumstances, he determined to give up his farm and travel on the Continent. He left England in March 1813, and after visiting the principal cities of Germany and Russia, expe riencing a variety of adventures, and recording with his pen and pencil all that he found worthy of notice in his own profession, he returned to his own country in 1814. On his return to London, finding that the chief part of his property wee lost through unfortunate invest ments, he devoted himself with renewed energy to his old profession of landscape-gardening. Ho now determined to puLlish a large work on the subject of gardening; and in order to complete his knowledge of continental gardens, for the purpose of rendering his work more valuable, he visited France and Italy in 1819. In 1822 appeared his great work, ' The Encyclopedia of Gardening,' which contained net only a vast amount of original and valuable matter ou every depart ment of horticulture, but was copiously illustrated with woodcuts in the text. This work bad a very extraordinary sale, and fully estab lished the reputation of the author as one of the most learned and able horticulturists of his day. A second edition was published in 1824. The success of this work led him to engage in another equally laborious and extensive, and ou the same plan, devoted to farming. This was published in 1825, with the title 'Encyclopiedia of Agri culture.' Another work, though not exactly on the same plan, but similar in design and comprehensiveness, was edited by him, and published in 1829, with the title 'Encyclopaedia of Plants.' This however contained less of the author's own work than the preceding, the plan and general design being all that he claimed as his own. This was followed by another, the 'Eneyeloptedia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture,' which was all his own labour. " The labour," says Mrs. London, "that attended this work was immense; and for several menthe he and I used to sit up the greater part of every night, never having more than four hours sleep, and drinking strong coffee to keep ourselves awake." This book was published in 1832, and was very successful. He then planned a work of etill greater extent, which demanded more time than any of the preceding : this was his Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum,' comprehending an account, with engravings, of all the trees and shrubs growing wild or cultivated in Great Britain. This work was brought out in 1838, and, with the preceding, was published at his own expense. After paying artists and other persons engaged in the work, "he found at its conclusion that he owed ten thousand pounds to the printer, the stationer, and the wood-eograver who had been employed." The aide of this work was slow, and seemed to have involved him in pecuniary difficulties, which, although they did not abate his energy, still preyed upon his mind, and hastened his death.