132 The Canadian HoKricui/ruRiST. 



SOME PROMIXKNT CANADIAN' HORTirui.TURISTS.^XV. 



MR. DAVID NICOL. 



the annual meeting of our Association held in Hamilton in 

 December, 1S89, our present representative for agricultural district 

 No. 3, was elected and has since filled his office, as one of the 

 directors of the Ontario Fruit Growers' Association, to the satisfaction 

 of all concerned. Mr. D. Nicol, of Catarat}ui, is a man of wide 

 experience and excellent early training in horticulture. Indeed, 

 there are very few Canadian horticulturists who can boast of so careful an 

 apprenticeship in all the practical details of the nursery and fruit growing lines, 

 as the subject of this sketch. Mr. Nicol, however, is a man of such modesty 

 that it was only by a series of questions from the editor of this journal that the 

 facts necessary for this sketch were obtained. 



David Nicol was born on June ist, 1847, in Montrose, Forfarshire, on 

 the east coast of Scotland. There he served his apprenticeship at market 

 gardening and the nursery business with his father, Daniel Nicol, of the 

 Hedderwick Nurseries, at Montrose. After completing his training at home, he 

 served two years as foreman in the gardens at Fasque Castle, Kincardineshire, 

 the seat of the late Sir John Gladstone ; two years as foreman in the gardens of 

 Kinnaird Castle, the seat of the Earl of Esk, Forfarshire, and one year as 

 foreman in the Royal Botanic (hardens at Glasgow. 



In 1854 Mr. Nicol determined to try his fortune in Canada, and coming to 

 this country he entered upon the fruit growing and nursery business at Lyn, 

 near Brockville, where he carried on his place for some eleven years. Finding 

 the necessity of being near some large market for his fruit, an important 

 consideration to every fruit grower, he removed to Cataraqui, near Kingston, at 

 which place he still resides. 



Mr. Nicol has spent much time, labor and money in experimenting, and as a 

 result, he finds that, while many kinds of apples can be profitably grown in his 

 agricultural district, which includes Frontenac, City of Kingston, Leeds and 

 Grenville North, Leeds South, Grenville South and Brockville, there are but 

 very few varieties of pears, plums and cherries that can be grown with profit. In 

 his apple orchard of ten acres, he has discarded, out of a large number of 

 varieties, a large part as entirely worthless. The kinds which he finds most 

 profitable and whi( h he fhiL-fly raises for shipping purposes in his own orchard, 

 are Golden Russet, La Rue, I'ameuse, Canada Red, Brockville Beauty and Red 

 .•^stracan. His work as an experimenter emphasizes the importance of having 

 such work systematically conducted by the Government for the general good. 

 As things are now, fruit growers all over the province are spending a large part 

 of their lives, and wasting much time and money in endeavoring to find out what 



