The Gardener 1831

Excerpt from The Gardener's Magazine, 1831, Vol. 7 In the course of the publication of this Volume, the Conductor has had an opportunity of personally ascertaining, during a exten sive tour, the state of gardening, and the wants and wis es of a number of his readers, in the central and northern counties of England, and in the west of Scotland. He has been confirmed in his intention of continuing the reports of the Provincial Horticul tural Societies, subject to the modifications laid down in p. 626. He has ascertained, beyond all doubt, that gardening has made much more progress during the last quarter of a century as an art of culture than as an art of design and taste; and that, in consequence, the wants of his readers, whether gardeners, their employers, or amateurs, are chiefly in the department of taste in other words, in landscape-gardening and garden architecture. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Gardener, 1831: A Magazine of Horticulture and Floriculture According to my ideas every border should at least be 20 feet wide, and be cropped only to within 5 feet of the walls. This would allow ample space for the roots of the fruit-trees, and also admit of that portion of the border devoted to vegetable culture occasionally being double-dug - which operation would greatly benefit both the vegetables and the trees, as the digging would be a mild form of root-pruning the latter. The main path would of course be in front of the border, but a light ungravelled path would of necessity be made as near the walls as the trees would admit. These paths, composed of the same soil as the borders, if not trampled too solidly, or much wheeled upon, do not appear to injuriously affect the trees 3 but where it can be man aged, I should advise the use of large square paving-tiles, if for clean liness' sake alone. They could either be laid down closely, to admit of being wheeled upon, or they may be short distances apart, in the way of stepping-stones. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Through close readings of individual serials and books and archival work on the publication history of the Gardener’s Magazine (1826-44) Sarah Dewis examines the significant contributions John and Jane Webb Loudon made to the gardening press and democratic discourse. Vilified during their lifetimes by some sections of the press, the Loudons were key players in the democratization of print media and the development of the printed image. Both offered women readers a cultural alternative to the predominantly literary and classical culture of the educated English elite. In addition, they were innovatory in emphasizing the value of scientific knowledge and the acquisition of taste as a means of eroding class difference. As well as the Gardener’s Magazine, Dewis focuses on the lavish eight-volume Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum (1838), an encyclopaedia of trees and shrubs, and On the Laying Out, Planting, and Managing of Cemeteries (1843), arguing that John Loudon was a radical activist who reconfigured gardens in the public sphere as a landscape of enlightenment and as a means of social cohesion. Her book is important in placing the Loudons’ publications in the context of the history of the book, media history, garden history, urban social history, history of education, nineteenth-century radicalism and women’s journalism.