The Canadian Horticnltiirist. 



5 



Robert was licensed to preach the 

 (jospel, and ordained 1)\ tlie Presbytery 

 c)t" Fordown.and inunediately afterwards 

 vohuiteered as a missionary to Upper 

 Canada, as Ontario was then called; 

 althont^h stront;ly nrged by the Rev. Dr. 

 McFarlane, then Moderator of tlu' 

 General Assembly, to go to India as 

 headmaster of the Assembly's school 

 there, and to act as ehaplain of (he 

 forces. 



I'or twenty-six years tlie Re\ . R. 

 Bnrnet was minister of St. Andrew's 

 Chnrch, Hamilton, during which time 

 he took a special interest in horticul- 

 tural and agricultural pursuits. In 1869 

 he was elected President of the I'ruit 

 Growers' Association of Ontario at the 

 annual meeting held in London, Ont., 

 on the 22nd September, in wliich office 

 he succeeded W. H. Mills. Esq., of 

 Hamilton. His able conduct of the 



meetings during his ten years of office 

 have already been alluded to, and his 

 \alual)le annual addresses form an im- 

 portant feature in the reports of the 

 Government of those years. 



In 1880 Mr. Burnet removed to Pictou, 

 Nova Scotia, where he ministered for 

 four years in St. Andrew's Church, and 

 then returned to Ontario. 



In addition to the above we may re- 

 mark that the subject of our sketch was 

 a life member of the American Pomo- 

 logical Society, of which he was for a 

 time one of the Vice-Presidents; and 

 honorary member of the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society. 



From liis quick i)erceptions in the 

 identification of fruits, and of their com 

 parative excellences, he is frequently 

 employed as |judge in the horticultural 

 department at fairs, and these duties 

 he creditabK- discharges. 



A FEW HINTS ON LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



WI{ make no attempt at the 

 treatment of this interesting 

 subject from a professional stand- 

 point. We only propose giving, in a 

 simple niamier, a few important 

 points concerning that department 

 of landscape gardening which deals 

 with the laying out of lawns and 

 of ornamental grounds, hoping our 

 remarks may be useful to those of 

 our readers who may be planning 

 improvements in the surroundings of 

 their homes, to be carried out when 

 spring again comes round. 



We want to cultivate a taste for 

 the beautiful, in the arrangement of 

 the grounds around our country 

 homes ; a taste that is sadly defi- 

 cient in many (|uarters, as is 

 evidenced by the untidy and unkempt 

 appearance of many of the door- 



yards belonging even to some of our 

 prosperous farmers. 



Generally speaking, we find two 

 sacred enclosures in front of the 

 house, each surrounded by a picket 

 fence, one of which is the door-yard 

 and the other the garden ; and, on 

 either side of the house, barns, corn- 

 cribs, pig-pens, etc., reign supreme. 

 The door-yard, as it is indeed aptly 

 called, is sometimes planted regu- 

 larly, like an orchard, with maples or 

 spruces, and has a front walk directly 

 across the middle, just wherever the 

 course of human feet have worn it 

 clear of grass. 



What is to be done in such a 

 case ? Why, begin ih novo, to be 

 sure ; tear away these ugly division 

 fences ; group all out-houses as much 

 as possible about the barn in the 



