D. L. S., C. E., Professor of Agriculture,
Guelph Agricultural College, was born on the 14th April, 1835, at Turriff,
Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He is a son of James Brown, LL.D., author of
"The Forester", and now a resident of Port Elgin, Ontario,
Canada. His mother was Janetr Erskine. His great grandfather, on his
father's side, was cousin to Rev. John Brown, minister of Haddington,
commonly called "Bible Brown". Professor Brown was educated
principally in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, in the ordinary parochial
schools of the country, and he attended school up to his seventeenth year;
thereafter he was entirely self-taught. He was a justice of the peace in
Aberdeenshire for twelve years, and railway director there for five years,
ending 1869. He was also commissioner for the County of Aberdeen, and one
of fifteen appointed to superintend the cattle plague of 1867; and was for
three years clerk and treasurer of North and South Orillia and Matchedash.
In 1861 he joined the Masonic Order of Scotland. Up to his twentieth year
Mr. Brown was largely employed by his father in the superintendence of
forest tree planting in England and Scotland; in the extensive drainage of
farms; and in the general improvement of landed estates. From twenty to
twenty-four he was engaged on a survey of the estates of the Earl of
Seafield in Banffshire, Scotland, and had also the personal management of
the estates of Andrew Stewart, M. P. for Auchlunkart, in the same county.
In 1860 he received the important appointment of factor to Colonel
Farquharson of Invercauld, Braemar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. This estate
is one of the most extensive in Scotland, and embraces about 135,000 acres
of land, with nearly 500 tenants, 30,000 sheep, and corresponding Highland
characteristics, such as shooting, fishing, etc., and unusually valuable
woods and forests. It was chiefly because of Mr. Brown's intimate
practical acquaintance with Arboriculture that he received this onerous
appointment. He took an active part in improving the roads of the
district, and in introducing traction engines for the conveyance of timber
to the railroads, and ultimately to the extension of the railway itself.
Canada presenting better prospects for his family of three sons and three
daughters, he emigrated in 1871, and bought a farm near Orillia, and in
addition to farming acted as provincial land surveyor; and he was
appointed to the charge of the Ontario Agriculture College and
Experimental farm in 1875. Prof. Brown is author of various important
papers, among others one on "British Sheep Farming", published
in Edinburgh, and one on the "Claims of Arboriculture as a
Science", read before the British Association for the Advancement of
Science. He is gold medallist of the Highland and Agriculture Society of
Scotland, as well as of the Scottish Arboricultural Society. It is hardly
necessary here to say how prosperous has been the Guelph Agriculture
College since Prof. Brown took its management. Its reputation for
excellence is now so well established that its membership each year
includes students from the most distant parts of Canada, from Great
Britain, and from the United States. Professor Brown is an enthusiast in
his work, and, besides his duties as head of the Agricultural and
Experimental departments of the college, he has given lectures upon
scientific farming, stock-raising, etc., through many parts of Canada. He
is also skilled in forestry, and his brother is government conservator of
Forests for South Australia. |