Loudon’s Improved Furnace 

‘When recovered, Mr Loudon looked at the wreck and returned to London by stagecoach. In Chapel Street, he found a letter from Mr Dickson awaiting him. It was another inquiry for Loudon’s Improved Furnace. The sender was a Welshman who also wanted advice on his estate.’ This is a quote from The Claudians: gardens, landscapes, reason and faith: John Claudius Loudon and Claudius Buchanan, Tom Turner (Kindle, 2024).

More about Loudon’s Improved Furnace 

The design was developed when Loudon worked at Dicksons nursery in Edinburgh. The Nursery also sold it, presumably paying a commission to its designer. The design was published in his Short Treatise on Several Improvements Recently Made in Hot-Houses and was sold for £2.10s. Improved Hothouse Furnace, which words are printed upon the door of the furnace.

Loudon's Improved Furnace used much less fuel than conventional glasshouse stoves as did his proposed use of wool soaked in alum to insulate glasshouses. When used with the improved furnace 'from four-fifths to nine-tenths of the fuel commonly used will be saved'

hothouse furnace design

Loudon’s horticultural innovations

19th-century gardening technology

Edinburgh nurseries

estate management tools

Loudon’s horticultural treatise

improved greenhouse furnace