A Dictionary Of Modern Gardening

Johnson, born at Blackheath, Kent, was younger son of William Johnson, proprietor successively of the Vauxhall distillery, of the Coalbrookdale china-works, and of salt-works at Heybridge in Essex.

At Heybridge Johnson and his elder brother, Cuthbert William Johnson, first found employment, and carried out experiments in the application of salt as manure, which they recounted in An Essay on the Uses of Salt for Agriculture. One of their discoveries was an economical method of separating sulphate of magnesia, or Epsom salts, fromseawater. As early as 1826 Johnson sent articles to Loudon's Gardener's Magazine.

His first independent work was A History of English Gardening, Chronological, Biographical, Literary, and Critical in 1829. It contains a vast amount of information, and exhibits great patience and research. At Great Totham, where he resided, he conducted experiments in gardening, and especially in the manufacture of manures. His History of the Parish of Great Totham, Essex, was printed at the private press of Charles Clarke, in 1831. In 1835 he published Memoirs of John Selden, which was dedicated to Lord Stanley. The two brothers in 1839 edited an edition of Paley's works, in which the Evidences of Christianity were undertaken by the younger brother.