Appendix. 121 



THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE LAND. 



A BRIEF HISTORY OF EARLY HORTICULTURE IN OREGON. 



By Dr. J. R. Cardwell, Portland. 



For many years president of the Oregon State Horticultural Society. 



The first settlers found here in the indigenous fi'uits, a promise of 

 the abundant yield of the cultivated varieties which they were not long 

 in introducing with most gratifying results. There were here the 

 apple — Pyrus rivularis; the plum — Primus subcordata; the grape — Vitis 

 Californica; two elderberries — Sambucus glauca and Savibucus callicar- 

 ]m; the blackberry — Rubus tirsinus; five raspberries — Rubus parviflonis, 

 Riibus leucodermis, R}ibus strigosus, Rubus pedatus, and Rubus specta- 

 bilis; the strawberry — Fragaria Chiloensis; several wild currants — 

 Ribes aureum, and others; three gooseberries, edible — Ribes Menziesii; 

 four or more huckleberries — Vaccinium Caespstosum, Vaccinium ovalifo- 

 linni, Vaccinium macrophyllum, Vaccinium ovatum; the barberry — 

 Berberis Aquifolium, known as the Oregon grape, our State flower; 

 salal — Gaultheria* shallon; Juneberry or service berry — Amalanchier 

 florida; black haw — Crataegus brevispina;^ filbert — Corylus Californica; 

 chinquapin chesnut — Castanopsis chrysophylla, and others perhaps not 

 enumerated. 



The introduction of the first cultivated fruits in the country in 

 1824 by employees of the Hudson Bay Company is a pretty story with 

 a touch of romance. At a dinner given in London, in 1824, to several 

 young men in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company bound for the 

 far distant Pacific Coast, a young lady at a table, beside one of the 

 young gentlemen, ate an apple, carefully wrapped the seeds in a paper 

 and placed them in the vest pocket of the young gentleman, with the 

 request that when he arrived in the Oregon Country he should plant 

 them and grow apple trees. The act was noticed and in a spirit of 

 merriment other ladies present, from the fruits of the table, put seeds 

 ■of apple, peai's, peach, and gi-ape into the vest pockets of all the gentle- 

 men. On their arrival at the Hudson Bay Fort at Vancouver the 

 young gentlemen gave the seeds to the company's gardener, James 

 Bruce, who planted them in the spring of 1825. From these seeds 

 came the trees now growing on the grounds of the Vancouver Barracks, 

 as transferred to the Government on the disbanding the company. 

 This story we have from David McLoughlin, the son of Dr. John Mc- 

 Loughlin, Mrs. McLoughlin, Mrs. Whitman, in part, and others. 



Mrs. Whitman, in September, 1836, in a letter to her mother, writes 

 of her visit to Vancouver, and her admiration of these fruit trees and 

 their fruits as follows: "On arriving at Vancouver we were met by 



