i8o 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST, 



MEN WHO HAVE SUCCEEDED— II. 



THOS. MEEHAN, PHILADELPHIA. 



A Remarkable Career — How He Rose from Small Things to Great — An Example to 



Young Canadians. 



Fig. 2305. Thomas MtEHAN. ' 



'N part owing to his most valuable labors 

 in connection with that well known 

 journal, Meehan's Monthly, and in 

 part owing to his great success as a 

 nurseryman, the name of Thomas Meehan 

 has become a household word among the 

 fruit growers, of America. Success in life 



does not seem to depend so much 

 upon outward condition, or even 

 upon college training, as upon that 

 inherent faculty iwhich some men 

 have of taking advantage of oppor- 

 tunities which lie along their path- 

 way, and turning them into gold, 

 or into position. 



On Tuesday, the 19th of Novem- 

 ber, this noted botanist and nursery- 

 man passed away, aged seventy-five 

 years, mourned by a large circle of 

 personal friends and associates in 

 scientific pursuits. 



We are only able, in our limited 

 space, to give a most condensed ac- 

 count of Professor Meehan's life 

 and labors, as a source of inspira- 

 tion to young Canadians, who may 

 thereby be led to seek the realization 

 of some praiseworthy ambition. 



Early Life. — He was born near 

 London, England, in 1826, and soon 

 after this date his father became 

 head gardener upon a large estate 

 in the Isle of Wight. " Here, in 

 the backwoods of Squire Young's 

 Scotch fir plantation, young Thom- 

 as Meehan used to love to sit on 

 the brown pine-needles and alarm suddenly 

 the young snakes till they scampered into 

 their mother's mouth for protection. With 

 no other boys to play with for miles 

 around, he spent his time in writing boyish 

 essays on what he saw. In after years, 

 one essay of an eight-year-old boy got 



