Tlie Canadian Horticnltnrist. 



153 



inspirint^f to our younj,' men, inipart- 

 inf,' niiihition to excel, and suggesting 

 hints for their guidance. 



Such an example is set before them 

 in the case of Mr. R. McKnight, of 

 Owen Sound, who came to Canada 

 from Ireland in the year 1836, at the 

 age of nineteen, to seek his fortime. 

 His first employment was in a saw- 

 mill, where, owing to his ambition 

 to stand first to his qualifications, h(> 

 became, in six 

 months time, man- 

 ager of the con- 



cern, 

 held 



a post he 

 for three 



years. 



In i860 he turn- 

 ed his hand to 

 school teaching, 

 which })rofession 

 he pursued with 

 ability for six 

 years, and, later 

 on, devoted him- 

 self to mercantile 

 life, which he con- 

 ducted success- 

 fully in Markdale, 

 Cookstown, and 

 last of all in Mea- ^'^-^ 



ford. Not long since, he was ap- 

 pointed Registrar for the County 

 of North Grey, a position which 

 led him to reside in Owen Sound. 

 His home surroundings at the latter 

 place testify to his taste and skill in 

 horticulture, and, although more 

 properly classed among the bee- 

 keepers from the especial attention 

 he gives to that pursuit, yet as a fruit 

 grower he holds no mean place, and 

 merits a notice in these pages. 



In reply to a letter asking Mr. 



McKnight for some notes of his life 

 as a horticulturist, he wrote the fol- 

 lowing letter which we insert in full: — 



Dear Sir : — Referring to )our 

 favor of the loth April, in which you 

 note receipt of electrotype, kindly 

 offering to use it if furnished with 

 notes, I have to say in reply that 

 nothing I have done in the way of 

 horticultural pursuits entitle me to 

 be classed among the prominent pro- 

 iiKitcrs of the industry. I have never 

 been other than 

 what may be fairly 

 termed an amateur 

 in the business. 

 I have two orch- 

 ards; but my home 

 one receives most 

 of what attention 

 I bestow on the 

 culture of fruit. In 

 this I cultivate all 

 the fruit — large 

 and small — adapt- 

 ed to this section 

 of Ontario. Some 

 years ago I thought 

 of growing what 

 peaches would 

 ser\e m y o w n 

 family, if that were 

 possible. To this 

 end I ordered one 

 liundred trees of 

 the most suitable 

 varieties, and 



I regret to say 

 there is not one of them alive to-day, 

 nor did I even get a fruit from them. 

 Most of my spare time has been 

 devoted to bee-keeping in recent 

 years. When in London at the Col- 

 onial Exhibition (where I went as 

 one of the delegates in charge of our 

 honey exhibit) I thought it would be 

 a good opportunity to secure a future 

 market for the one hundred or so 

 barrels of apples I yearly have to 

 sell. I accordingly made the acquain- 

 tance of John Draper & Son — one of 

 the largest fruit handling firms of 



Owi. N Soumj, 



planted them. 



