4 ' FIRST 'BRUITS OF THE LAND. 



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, pears, peach, and grape into the vest 

 pockets of all the gentlemen. 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 Van- 

 couver barracks, as transferred to the Government on the 

 disbanding of the company. This story we have from 

 David McLoughlin, the son of Dr. John McLoughlin, 

 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 admira- 

 tion of these fruit trees and their fruits as follows : "On 

 arriving at Vancouver we were met by several gentlemen 

 who came to give us a welcome. Mr. Douglas and Doctor 

 Tolmie and Doctor McLoughlin of the Hudson Bay Com- 

 pany who invited us in and seated us on a sofa. Soon 

 we were introduced to Mrs. McLoughlin and Mrs. Tolmie, 

 both natives of the country, half-breeds; after chatting a 

 little we were invited to take a walk in the garden. What 

 a delightful place it is, what a contrast to the rough bar- 

 ren plains through which we had so recently passed : 

 here we find fruits of every description, apples, grapes, 

 pears, plums, and fig trees in abundance ; also cucumbers, 

 melons, beans, pease, beets, cabbage, tomatoes, and every 

 kind of vegetable. Every part is very neat and tastefully 

 arranged with fine walks lined on either side with straw- 

 berries ; at the end of the garden is a summer house with 

 grapevines." 



The apple and the pear trees,. and the grapevines from 

 these seeds are yet annually bearing fruits on the grounds 

 of the government barracks at Vancouver. Not long ago 



