A committed man

Auguste Dupuis definitely enjoyed walking with his dog along the trails of his many nurseries. In this photograph, he may have been enjoying a quiet moment to think about all his projects He wanted everyone to learn how to prune their fruit trees properly so that the trees would produce an abundant supply of fruit. In fact, around 1874, he hired two French immigrants who specialized in pruning, grafting and restoring poorly pruned trees to train his nursery staff.

Dupuis made an outstanding contribution to community life and to the development of fruit and ornamental arboriculture and horticulture. He was a founding member of the Association fruitière d’Abbotsford in 1874, the Société d’horticulture du comté de L’Islet in 1880, and the Société pomologique et de culture fruitière de la province de Québec, which was active until the early 1970s.

In 1922, he was awarded the title of Special Commander of the Order of Agricultural Merit, with the mention “specially distinguished merit” for obvious reasons. He died the same year at the age of 83.