He was born in Edinburgh, the son of a gardener. After an apprenticeship with his father, he moved in 1744 to London where he was employed as a gardener in the royal palaces. He became well-known for his land- scaping and was employed as a landscape gardener by several noble families in England. Among his publications may be mentioned The Universal Gardener and Botanist which went into several editions, The Gardener's Pocket Dictionary and The Garden Vade Mecum.
Works: The British Fruit Gardener and the Art of Pruning (1779); The Complete Forcing Gardener (1781); The Complete Wall Tree Pruner (1783); The Propagation and Botanical Arrangement of Plants and Trees (1784); The Gardener's Daily Assistant (1786); The Gardener's Pocket Dictionary (1786); The Garden Vade Mecum (1789); The Hot House Gardener (1789); The Universal Gardener's Kalendar (1789);The Universal Gardener and Botanist (1797); The Garden Mushroom (1802); Every Man his Own Gardener (1803).

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