Auguste Dupuis’ nursery

Amable Morin and Sifroy Guéret dit Dumont, the two main fruit merchants and growers on the Côte-du-Sud, could not purchase their first trees in that region. In fact, tree growers were nowhere to be found on the Côte-du-Sud when Morin and Dumont planted their orchards in 1830 and 1840. But things were about to change.

Auguste Dupuis (1839-1922)

Auguste Dupuis (1839-1922) studied horticulture In Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies and became very interested in it. He experimented with adapting plum trees imported from France and the United States to the region’s climate. Thanks to his wealth of horticultural knowledge and the commercial expertise he had acquired in his family’s general store, Auguste Dupuis founded a nursery in 1860 that bore his name. It was the very first nursery east of Quebec City and, for many years, the largest in Eastern Quebec.

Auguste Dupuis next to his house and store with his nephew, Albert Dupuis Verreault, ca. 1875

Dupuis adopted a scientific approach and introduced several varieties of fruit trees from Europe and the United States. Everything he needed was transported by boat to the port of New York and from there, to the wharf in Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies by train or by boat.

Auguste Dupuis was soon recognized as a major promoter of fruit growing on the Côte-du-Sud and in Quebec. His nursery was visited by leading Canadian and American experts. M. Dupuis always gave them a warm welcome. This photograph shows the preparations that had been made for the visit of William Tyrrell Macoun, first Dominion Horticulturist.

Photo taken in 1903 at the Dupuis Nursery, during the visit of William Tyrrell Macoun (1869-1933)  published in The Canadian Horticulturist

Auguste Dupuis and his dog in the nursery, ca. 1900

Dupuis was utterly devoted to his cause, which consisted in encouraging the creation of orchards, forest planting and landscaping. He preferred to sell young trees at a lower price than to sell large ones. He explained this to George Moore, who visited him in July 1891 at the request of Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière:

Tree growers don’t want to sell root grafts, because they loose the profit they would have made from letting the trees grow. But I push for the sale of root grafts to encourage the public to plant orchards.

M. Dupuis wanted to keep orchard owners, be they large or small, well-informed about growing their own trees and new varieties. He believed in the exchange of ideas and brought together people who shared an interest in horticulture and arboriculture. He was a founding member of several associations and societies in the province, including the Société d’horticulture du comté de L’Islet. August Dupuis took part in organizing exhibitions of agricultural products and competitions. He always awarded prizes in the form of shrubs and fruit trees.

Archives de la Côte-du-Sud

Auguste Dupuis acquired a solid reputation. He was appointed director of the experimental fruit stations network. He served as commissioner for the federal government at the Jamaica Exhibition in 1890 and secretary to the Canadian Commission to the Paris World’s Fair in 1900. And, as if travelling wasn’t difficult enough at the time, he also went to Missouri, where he was attached to the horticultural service at the St. Louis Exhibition in 1904.