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Case twelve
![John Abercrombie, Every man his own gardener. Being a much more complete gardener's calendar, and general director, than any hitherto published. 15th ed., corrected and greatly enlarged. London: Printed for B. Law, [and 15 others], 1797.DeBeer Eb/1797/A](../../gfx/Exhibitions/Gardening/garden_aberchrombie.jpg) |
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| John Abercrombie, Every man
his own gardener. Being a much more complete gardener's calendar,
and general director, than any hitherto published. 15th ed., corrected
and greatly enlarged. London: Printed for B. Law, [and 15 others],
1797. DeBeer Eb/1797/A |
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Seedsmen, nurserymen and gardeners
Though Stephen Switzer (1682-1745) described himself after 1724 as a seedsman and gardener, he was already an accomplished garden designer who had produced several volumes on the layout of country estates, culminating in Ichnographia Rustica (1718). His later works, including The Practical Kitchen Gardiner (1724) concentrated on the practical details of raising choice fruits and vegetables, including newcomers like celeriac, broccoli, and Florence fennel.
James Wheeler was a gardener and nurseryman in Gloucester. His work, The Botanist's and Gardener's New Dictionary (1763) adopted Linnaeus' classificatory system but not his binomial nomenclature. Nevertheless this work shows the important role that well-educated nurserymen played in the dissemination of scientific knowledge in the 18th century.
John Abercrombie (1726-1806), a professional gardener, was the author of one of the most successful gardener's calendars ever published. Every Man His Own Gardener ran into at least 21 editions in his lifetime. Costing 4 shillings in 1767, this calendar provided lengthy lists of plant varieties as well as copious instructions for practising gardeners. Unlike Miller, Abercrombie avoided botanical names, preferring vernacular names of plants like ‘batchelor-button' and ‘Canterbury-bells', and employed some curious spellings. In the 21st (1818) edition, he was described as ‘sixty years a practical gardiner'.