The Gardeners' Chronicle
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
horticulture
Horticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
periodical. It lasted as a title in its own right for nearly 150 years and is still extant as part of the magazine Horticulture Week
Horticulture Week
Horticulture Week is a British horticultural periodical, covering nursery production, garden retail, landscaping, arboriculture, garden heritage, groundsmanship and amenity horticulture....
.
Founded in 1841 by the horticulturalists Joseph Paxton
Joseph Paxton
Sir Joseph Paxton was an English gardener and architect, best known for designing The Crystal Palace.-Early life:...
, Charles Wentworth Dilke, John Lindley
John Lindley
John Lindley FRS was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist.-Early years:Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley was a nurseryman and pomologist and ran a commercial nursery garden...
and William Bradbury
William Bradbury
William Bradbury may refer to:*William Bradbury , English soccer player*William Bradbury , English printer*William Batchelder Bradbury , American musician*Bill Bradbury , U.S. politician...
it originally took the form of a traditional newspaper, with both national and foreign news, but also with vast amounts of material sent in by gardeners and scientists, covering every conceivable aspect of gardening.
Its first editor, John Lindley, was one of the founders. Another founder, Paxton, later also became editor. Prominent contributors included Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
and Joseph Hooker
Joseph Dalton Hooker
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM, GCSI, CB, MD, FRS was one of the greatest British botanists and explorers of the 19th century. Hooker was a founder of geographical botany, and Charles Darwin's closest friend...
.
By 1851, the circulation of The Gardeners' Chronicle was given as 6500. Compared with that of the far more eminent Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
at 6230, and The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
at 3826, the The Gardeners' Chronicle did astonishingly well. Possibly these figures include the Chronicle's large international readership.
It was noted for its large advertising section and when the dropping of a tax on glass and the huge interest generated by the Great Exhibition made personal, small-scale greenhouses possible, it became full of adverts for these, many designed by Paxton himself, and from the sales of which he generated a tidy income.