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John Abercrombie (horticulturist)

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John Abercrombie
Picture of Abercrombie from The propagation and botanical arrangements of plants and trees, 1784
Born1726
Died2 May 1806
NationalityScottish
OccupationHorticulturist
Notable workEvery Man His Own Gardener[1]

John Abercrombie (1726 – 2 May 1806) was a Scottish horticulturist important to renovating garden techniques.[2] He is noted for the book Every Man His Own Gardener (1767), which he co-wrote with Thomas Mawe.[3]

Biography

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Abercrombie was born in Edinburgh.[2] As a young man Abercrombie was employed at the Royal Gardens at Kew, and at Leicester House; and later set up a successful market gardening business in Hackney and later at Tottenham. He wrote a number of works on gardening.[4]

For the last 20 years of his life, Abercrombie was a heavy consumer of tea and a vegetarian. He smoked his pipe for six hours a day and stated that tea and tobacco were promoters of his health.[2] He died from injuries obtained from an accident.[2]

Selected writings

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References

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  1. ^ Details - Every man his own gardener. Being a new, and much more complete gardener's kalendar than any one hitherto published. Biodiversity Heritage Library. 1782.
  2. ^ a b c d Johnson, George William. (1829). A History of English Gardening, Chronological, Biographical, Literary, and Critical. London: Baldwin & Cradock. pp. 219-224
  3. ^ Every Man His Own Gardener By John Abercrombie, Thomas Mawe
  4. ^ The Dictionary of National Biography: the Concise Dictionary. London: Oxford University Press, 1939; p. 3

Further reading

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