284 Annals of Horticulture. 



school at Lennoxville, P. Quebec. He entered Bishop's col- 

 lege, Lennoxville, but on the completion of the first year took 

 up work at McGill university, Montreal, where he graduated 

 in 1865, taking the degree of Bachelor of Arts. On account 

 of overwork at college his health was much impaired and eye- 

 sight weakened. After consulting eminent American skill, he 

 went to Europe and placed himself in the hands of the famous 

 oculist Von Graeffe, who recommended a walking tour. Ac- 

 cordingly he set out, accompanied by an old college chum. 

 In this trip they covered Sw^itzerland, Germany, Holland, 

 Norway and Sweden, which improved his health very much. 

 In the winter of 1867-8 he accompanied his uncle, Mr. I. J. 

 Gibb, of Como, P. Quebec, to the East, visiting Constantin- 

 ople, afterwards extending the journey up the Nile as far as 

 the first cataract ; from here going on to Palestine and then to 

 Corfu, returning by Venice and Rome. 



In 1869 he went to Mercersburg, Pa. and bought a peach 

 orchard; coming back to Montreal in 1870, he brought with 

 him the first canned fruit exhibited in the country (one jar 

 of which is still in the possession of Mr. I. J. Gibb, Como, P. 

 Quebec). His interest in fruit culture was now fully awakened 

 and he began to look around for a permanent location for a 

 fruit farm, which he found at Abbotsford, P. Quebec, where 

 he established himself in 1873. From that time till the date 

 of his death he was an active, independent worker in horticul- 

 ture, and being possessed of moderate means, he was enabled 

 to devote his time and money fully to experimental work. 

 His travels were extensive, and included tours of Manitoba 

 and northwest territories, British Columbia, the southern and 

 western states and the West Indies. 



But probably the one of greatest importance, and with which 

 his name will always be connected, was that to Russia in com- 

 pany with Professor J. L. Budd in 1882. This trip was under- 

 taken entirely at his own expense and without any encourage- 

 ment from the Provincial government of Quebec. The results 

 of this journey — a most arduous and costly one — are well 

 known to the horticultural public. Importations of trees, 

 scions and seeds followed, and were distributed among the 

 local societies of the Province and to the system of Dominion 

 Experimental Farms just then being inaugurated. In 1886 

 he went over the same ground again, verifying the work of his 



