Early life London Country Residences Ferm ornee Russia Loss of fortune   Hothouses France and Italy Gardeners Magazine Marriage Birmingham Scotland Arboretum Suburban Gardener  Cemeteries Last illness Death Anecdotes Elegy

In the year 1828 The Magazine of Natural History was begun, being the first work of its kind; and this work, though not quite so successful as The Gardener's Magazine, was very popular, and has had numerous imitators. Towards the close of this year Mr. Loudon paid another visit to the Continent, to obtain information for a new edition of the Encyclopedia of Agriculture. After traversing France, he proceeded through Strasburg to Munich and Stuttgart; he afterwards visited Heidelberg and Karlsruhe, and returned by Metz to Paris, and thence to England. In The Gardener's Magazine for 1828 he began to give an account of this tour; and he continued it through several of the succeeding volumes, interspersing the descriptions of the various places he saw with a mass of valuable reflections on various subjects, which he conceived would be useful to gardeners. In the following year, 1829, he suggested the idea of having breathing zones, or unoccupied spaces half a mile broad, at different intervals around London; and in the next article to this he first suggested the idea of making use of the manure now carried to waste by the common sewers, a plan which has since engaged the attention of many talented persons, and which, probably, will at no very distant period be carried into effect. Another plan suggested by him about this period was for establishing national schools, or, as he termed them, parochial institutions for education. In the same volume is a suggestion for the establishment of a gardeners' fund for the relief of the widows and families of deceased gardeners.