THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 131 



ance of the fateful cup, whether a lucky or unlucky day awaits 

 her. Whether this comes from pure superstition or from the 

 magic of Romany intuition, the uninitiated do not pretend to 

 say, but to this belief the gypsies have held for centuries. 



FIRST APPLE TREE OF THE NORTH-WEST 



By H. E. Zimmerman. 



T N the Vancouver Barracks, State of Washington, there 

 *** stands an apple tree of more than ordinary importance. Its 

 history is so interesting that Bancroft, the noted historian, says 

 in regard to it : "At a lunch party in London, about 1825, 

 given in honor of some young gentlemen who were about to 

 embark for Fort Vancouver, in the employ of the Hudson Bay 

 Company, seeds of the fruit eaten were slyly slipped by some 

 young ladies into the waistcoat pockets of the young men, and 

 upon their arrival at their destination, the young men, in over- 

 hauling their wardrobes, discovered the seeds and gave them 

 to Bruce, the gardener, at the Fort." Mrs. Mary Whitman, 

 wife of Marcus Whitman, also wrote an interesting history of 

 this tree, Sept. 12, 1836. 



It is said that the seeds planted by the gardener, Bruce, pro- 

 duced several trees, three of which lived for a long time, and 

 were pointed out as the only apple trees in the northwest. In 

 the course of time two of them disappeared. The existence of a 

 third tree seems to have been almost entirely forgotten by the 

 general public, not even the commander of the barracks know- 

 ing that such a tree stood on the very ground which he con- 

 trolled. It was largely through the horticultural inspector of 

 this district, A. A. Quarnberg, that the tree was discovered and 

 identified. In 1911 Mr. Quarnberg wished to have a gavel 

 made of wood from this apple tree for the Washington State 



