THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE LAND. 



A Brief History of Early Horticulture in Oregon. 



By DR. J. R. CAKDWELL, Portland. 

 For many years president of the Oregon State Horticultural Society. 



The first settlers found here in the indigenous fruits, a 

 promise of the abundant yield of the cultivated, varieties 

 which they were not long in introducing with most grati- 

 fying results. There were here the apple pyrus rivu- 

 laria] the plum prunus subcordata; the grape vitis 

 Calif ornica ; two elderberries sambucus glauca and sam- 

 bucus pubescens] the blackberry rubus ur sinus ; four 

 raspberries rubus nutkanus, rubus leucodermis, rubus 

 pedatus, and rubus spectabilis ; the strawberry fragaria 

 Chilensis'j several wild currants ribes aureum, and others; 

 three gooseberries, edible ribes Menziesii] four or more 

 cranberries vaccinium parmfolium, vaccinium ovalifo- 

 lium, vaccinium macrophyllum ; the barberry berberis 

 aquifolium, known as the Oregon grape, our State flower; 

 salal gaultheria myrsinites; Juneberry or service berry, 

 black haw cratsegus Douglasii ; filbert corylus rostrata ; 

 chinquapin chesnut castanopsis crysophylla, and others 

 perhaps not enumerated. 



The introduction of the first cultivated fruits in the 

 country in 1824 by employees of the Hudson Bay Com- 

 pany 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 



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