The Canadian Horticulturist. 



77 



PROMINENT CANADIAN HORTICULTURISTS— XXIII. 



J. W. Bigelow, Esq. 



HE subject of this sketch was born in Canso, Guysborough Co.^ 

 N. S., in 1833; here he resided till 1869. He conducted a 

 large and successful shipping business in Canso for a number of 

 years, accumulating a large property. In 1869, Mr. Bigelow, 

 attracted by the natural beauties, and superior educational advan- 

 tages of Wolfville, King's Co., purchased a small farm at the west 

 end of the town, where he has since resided ; and there are; but 

 , few residents of Wolfville and vicinity who have not the most 

 pleasant recollections of hospitality received at the hands of' Mr. 

 and Mrs. Bigelow, at Spruce Bank. 

 Soon after coming to Wolfville Mr. Bigelow planted an orchard of some 

 two hundred trees on his farm ; these trees were for some years neglected, land, 

 like most orchards planted at this date, a mistake was made in setting many 

 varieties which have since proved almost worthless, necessitating re-grafting or 

 re-planting many trees ; notwithstanding these disadvantages, as well as the 

 severe gales of August last, which stripped off a large part of the crop, this 

 orchard produced $800 worth of apples this past season, demonstrating beyond 

 question, the truth of previous statements made by Mr. Bigelow, as to the profit 

 of orcharding in the Annapolis Valley. ■ 



Becoming a life member of the Association in 1875, Mr. Bigelow has been 

 an enthusiastic attendant of all meetings of the Society, and in 1887 made a 

 statement in the annual meeting of the cost and value of an orchard ten years 

 old, from the standpoint of a business man, which has attracted much attention. 

 Some five years since Mr. Bigelow acquired a large tract of land near his farm, 

 and has given further evidence of his faith in orcharding, by planting some forty 

 acres of virgin soil with apple trees of the leading commercial varieties. This 

 plantation is doing finely, and it is Mr. Bigelow's intention to double its extent 

 in the near future. 



At the annual meeting of the Association in 1890, Mr. Bigelow was elected 

 President, and has been unanimously re-elected each succeeding year. Mr. 

 Bigelow took an exceeding'y active interest in the exhibit of Nova Scotia fruit 

 at the Columbian Exposition, sparing neither time nor money in the effort tc 

 make it a success. He personally took charge of the exhii)it during October, 

 1893, and the show and the gentleman in charge won most flattering enconiums. 

 Indeed, much of the success which N. S. fruit attained at the Fair is due to the 

 unflagging energy of the President of the Association. 



The Horticultural School, recently established by the N. S. F. G. Associa- 

 tion, has also received much attention from Mr. Bigelow. His has been the 



