DR. J. R. CARDWELL. 9 



In the summer of 1847, Mr. Henderson Luelling, 1 of 

 Iowa, brought across the plains several hundred yearling 

 grafted sprouts apple, pear, cherry, plum, prune, peach, 

 grape, and berries a full assortment of all the fruits grown 

 in the then far West. These were placed in soil in two 

 large boxes, made to fit into a wagon bed, and carefully 

 watered and tended on the long and hazardous six-months' 

 journey with an ox team, thousands of miles to the banks of 

 the Willamette just north of the little towns! te of Milwaukie, 

 Clackamas County. 



Here a little patch in the dense fir forest was cleared 

 away w r ith great labor and expense, and the first Oregon 

 orchard was set that autumn with portent more signifi- 

 cant for the luxury and civilization of this country, than 

 any laden ship that ever entered the mouth of the Co- 

 lumbia. A fellow traveler, William Meek, had also brought 

 a sack of apple seed and a few grafted trees ; a partnership 

 was formed and the firm of Luelling & Meek started the 

 first nursery in 1848. Roots from seedling apples planted 

 at Oregon City and on French Prairie, and sprouts from 

 the wild cherry of the vicinity, and wild plum roots 

 brought in from Rogue River Valley, furnished the first 

 stock. And it is related that one root graft in the nur- 

 sery the first year bore a big red apple, and so great was 

 the fame of it, and such the curiosity of the people, that 



1 It will be noticed that there is a difference in the spelling of the names of 

 Henderson Luelling and Seth Lewelling. As they were brothers the discrepancy 

 may seem to suggest an error in one case or the other. The explanation is this, 

 it being given me by Alfred Luelling, a son of Henderson, a few years ago: The 

 family, originally, came from Wales, and in the latter part of the eighteenth 

 century settled in North Carolina. Soon after arriving the head of the family 

 decided to change the name from the usual Welsh ^tyle of writing it Llewellyn 

 to Luelling, in order to simplify it as much as possible. This was the practice of 

 the family when the children were born Henderson on April 2:'>, 1SGO, and Seth 

 several years later. During his whole life Henderson followed the spelling 

 adopted by his father; and that was the custom of Seth until late in life at 

 least as late as 1S75 as is shown by his nursery catalogues which I printed. 

 Soon after the latter year he adopted "Lewelling " as his mode of spelling the 

 name, but "Luelling " was the style retained by the remainder of the family. 

 GEORGE H. HIMES. 



