Joseph Paxton ( 1801 - 1865 )

Horticultural skill was a mark of distinction in nineteenth centuty England . Money could buy impressive country estates and pretentious furnishings , but it could not provide a fundamental knowledge of the arts and crafts necessary for creating the type of beauty the owners desired in their gardens and conservatories . These aesthetic attributes were usually gained by the employment of experienced plantsmen and gardeners . In the ranks of such men , Joseph Paxton exemplified the top; his unofficial title as England's " Princeof Gardeners" well bespoke the esteem in which he was held in horticultural circles.

Joseph Paxton was born on 3 August 1801 at Milton Bryant , Bedfordshire , England ,where his father was a farmer. Of humble means ,Paxon was unable to attend the fine schools. At the age of fifteen he selected gardening as his profession and for two years was employed in the garden of Sir Gregory Osborne Page Turner ,Bart., at Battlesden Park, near Milton Bryant . The following three years were spent at Woodhall Park , near Watton, Herts., in the gardens of Samuel Smith ,Esq., where he acquired a through practical knowledge of the most important branches of horticulture . For two more years he was a gardener at Battlesden .

In the fall of 1823 he went to London , finding employment in the garden of the duke of Somerset at Wimbledon. About this time the duke of Devonshire leased some ground to the Horticultural Society , which commenced the formation of an experimental garden at Chiswick. This endeavor presented an excellent oppertunity for young gardeners, and Paxton egerly took advantage of the chance to further obtain all the requirements of his profession . On the recommendation of Joseph Sabine , Honorary Secretary fo the Horticultural Society , he was admitted to the new garden on 13 November 1823. Advancement came rapidly , for in 1824 he was promoted to foreman of the arboretum. Here it was that he became acquinted with the duke of Devonshire, who frequently came to Paxton for advice and consultation on new trees and shrubs. Paxton's bearing and intelligence impressed the duke , and , needing a gardener for his extensive grounds, he inquired of Mr. Sabine as to Paxton's capabilities for the position ." Young and untired ," stated Sabine , yet he was enthusiastic in Paxton's behalf -and young Paxton went to Chatsworth . In his own words:

I left London by the Comet coach for Chesterfield , and arrived at Chatsworth at half-past four o'clock in the moring of the 9 th of May, 1826. As no person was to be seen at that early hour I gor over the greenhouse gates by the old covered way , explored the pleasure ground and looked round the outside of the house . I then went down to the kitchen garden ,scaled the outside wall , and saw the whole of the place , set the men to work there at six O'clock ,then returned to Chatsworth , and got Thomas Weldon to play me the waterworks , and afterwards went to breakfast with poor Mrs. Gregory and her niece; the latter fell in love with me , and I with her, and thus completed my first morning's work at Chatworth at nine o'clock.

He married that same niece,Miss Sarah Brown , in 1827. Meanwhile , he had begun a marvelous transformation at Chatsworth.Said the duke:

In a very short tme a great change appeared in pleasure-ground and garden; vegetables , of which there had been none , fruit in perfection ,and flowers . Twelve men with brooms in their hands on the lawn began to sweep the labourers to work with activity . The kitchen garden was so low ,and exposed to floods from the river , that I supposed the first work of the new gardener would be to remove it to some other place, but he made it answer. In 1829 the management of the woods was entrusted to him, and gradually they were rescued from a prospect of destruction . Not till 1832 did I take to caring for my plants in earnest .The old greenhouse was converted into a stove , the greenhouse at the gardens was built ,the arboretum was invented and formed . Then started up Orchidaceae ,and three successice houses were built to receive the increasing numbers . In 1835 the intelligent gardener , John Gibson ,was despatched to India to obtain the Amberstia nobilis and other treasures of the East. The colossal new conservatory was invented and begun in 1836 ; the following year Baron Ludwig was so charmed with its conception that he stripped his garden at the Cape of the rarest produce of Africa . Paxton had now been employed in the superintendence and formation of my roads ; he made one tour with me to the West of England , and in 1838 contrived to accompany me for an entire year abroad , in which time , having gone through Switzerland and Italy , he trod in Greece , Turkey ,Asia Minor , Malta ,Spain,and Portugal . In his absence he managed that no progress should be checked at home. A great calamity ruined the expedition he had set on foot to California ; the unfortunate Wallace and Banks , young gardeners from Chatsworth and in that year the conservatory was finished .The village of Edensor was new-modelled and rebuilt between 1839 and 1841, and the crowning works have been the fountains and rock-garden.

Paxton's overall abilities transcended the realm of gardening alone. Financial arrangements which he suggested to the duke were so well taken as to foster such success that the duke entrusted him with the superintendece of his large estates at Deybyshire . Paxton's reputation grew as great among the aristocracy as among his own class, and his worth was nobly appreciated . He and the duke formed such a compatible friendship that they often had occasion to dine together at the duke's table.

In the midst of a period when new orchids were being introduced and their cultivation was in an experimental stage ,Paxton developed an abiding interest in them .The duke's orchid collection was also constantly enlarging , so that within ten years of its formation it had become the largest private orchid collection in the country . Paxton collaborated closely with John Lindley , then secretary of the Horticultural Society and the most prominent orchidologist of the times.Lindley had been distrubed by the lack of success most gardeners encountered in attempting to cultivate tropical orchids in " stoves," and suggested to Paxton that a more rational system of cultivation should be adopted. Forthwith Paxton opened up the greenhouses , providing cool air and ventilation to the orchid . This treatment had a marked influence on the plants , for they began to flourish . Lindley widely expounded the advantages of Paxton's methods, and the latter became well known for having standardized orchid culture. In later years Paxton's cultural techiques were recognized as the beginnings of " modern" orchid cultivation .

The salient aspects of Paxton's methods were that he provided separate houses or compartmented houses for orchids from different climates, maintained a lower average temperature than was usually given by other orchid growers of the day ; introduced more efficient ventilation by which a larger volume of fresh air was admitted into the houses , especially during the growing season ; occasionally watered the walkways and stagings in the greenhouses in order to provide a moist atmosphere ; and developed an improved method of potting ,with special regard to efficient drainage and greater attention to root development .

Journalism was also one of Paxton's specialties .Already producing his beautifully illustrated Paxton's Magazine fo Botany , in 1841 he became one of the founders of the Gardener's Chronicle . The first volume of his Magazine was published in 1834 . Even as early as that date the changing of plant names by botanists bothered gardeners and horticultural journalists, and in the introduction of his first volume Paxton wrote :

As great confusion exist s amongst cultivators , in sequence of our very eminent Botanists so frequently changing the names of plants after their introduction , great care will be taken to constantly adhere to the names first given , if at all consistent . In some cases the change is indispensable.

Pleased at the avidity with which his volumes were acceptable by British horticulturists ,Paxton wrote in the advertisement to volume 2:

The increasing interest exhibited during the past year, in the introduction and cultivation of Flowering Plants, may in a great measure account for the very extensive sale of the Magazine of Botany,which , without doubt, now surpasses that of any other work of the kind in the country . From this unexpected success the author is led to hope tht his endeavours ,however humble,have in some degree met the wants and wishes of his countrymen.

The first orchid Paxton illustrated in his Magazine was Cattleya intermedia , a double -page inllustration showing a spike of five flowers grown in Earl Fitzwilliam's gardens at Wentworth House . He was extremely pleased with the response shown to this picture ,and in succeeding volumes he included orchids increasingly . Enthusiasm continued on a grand level , and in the third volume Paxton wrote : " The plants most in esteem now by the scientific Botanists are unquestionably Orchideae ........ " Thus Joseph Paxton , by his excellent of culture and the dissmination of published pictures and information ,was responsible in large part of the accelerated popularity in orchid growing .

Great opportunity for achievement was afforded Paxton in 1850 . At that time he was erecting a peculiarly built greenhouse which he had disigned for the cultivation of the newly introduced aquatic plant , the Victoria regia . At the same time , plans were being formed for the first for the first Great Exhibition . Two hundread and forty designs had been submitted Great Exhibition . Two hundred and forty desings had been submitted to the building committe of the purpose of housing the exhinition.

None of the plans submitted ,however , complied with the requirements for the purpose of the event. Paxton ,hearing of the situation , submitted a desigh which was accepted with great approbation. A great domed glass structure was erected -a marvel of beauty and ingenuity for all who viewed it . For his services to the exhibition , Queen Victoria was pleased to confer the honor of knighthood upon Paxton .

Sir Joseph took a great interest in education and spent much of his time in later years overseeing the papers prepared by horticultural students for discussion at their evening meetings . He was a vice-president of the Royal Horticultural Society , a Fellow of the Linnean Society , and a benevolent friend and subscriber to the Gardener's Royal Benevolent Institution . He became director of a railway as well as a liberal in politics , voting in favor of every measure which he thought likely to benefit his fellow man . In 1854 he was returned as member of Parliament for Coventry and represented that body continually until his death .

The one improvement for which he became perhaps most well known in the gardening world was the invention and introduction of inexpensive greenhouses for the greater populace .

Sir Joseph was finally felled by death on 8 June 1865.

The orchid genus Paxtonia is named in his honor .

References

Curtis Charles H. 1956. Men., matters and memories .The Orch. Rev. 64, no. 756.

Gardener's Chronicle . 1865. The late Sir Joseph Paxton . No. 24 .

Gardener's Chronicle. 1865.Miscellaneous -The late Duke of Devonshire and Sir Joseph Paxton .No. 27 .

markham, Violet R. 1935 .Paxton and the Bachelor Duke . London : Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.