1512 



HORTICULTURE 



HORTICULTURE 



now, horticultural operations which are projected 

 as a fundamental conception of land occupation are 

 confined to relatively few parts of the country. It is 

 only in certain regions or with certain persons that the 

 farmer starts out with horticulture as a base, and with 

 grain and stock and hay as accessories; and even in 

 these places, many horticulturists are still drawing 

 their practices and the reasons for them from the opera- 

 tions of general mixed agriculture. The history of fruit- 

 growing in most of the older parts of North America is 

 the history of the apple, and the subject is developed 

 under that heading; but before proceeding to the apple 

 specially we may pause to consider some of the dates in 

 the extension of fruit-growing westward. 



"It may not occur to many of our people," writes 

 Charles W. Garfield, "that the horticulture of Michi- 

 gan may have had its beginning as early as that of 

 Massachusetts, as the French Jesuit missionaries 

 visited Detroit the same year that the Mayflower 

 landed its pilgrims at Plymouth Rock." The influence 

 of the French missionaries must be well considered 

 when the history of American horticulture is written, 

 particularly of those parts that lie along the great 

 waterways. The old pear trees along the Detroit River 

 and in eastern Michigan attest the early French dis- 

 semination. The first planting of orchards in Michigan, 

 according to Garfield, "were made at Detroit from 

 stock secured across the river, the stock having origi- 

 nally come from France to Montreal, and progressed 

 westward with the settlements. The varieties were 

 Fameuse, Pomme Grise, and Red and White Colville." 

 The first large importation of orchard trees was made 

 about 1825, the stock having come from Grant Thor- 

 burn of New York. The spread of tree-planting to 

 the westward followed regularly with the progress of 

 settlement. 



The above remarks about the Jesuits indicate that 

 the early American fruit-growing was not all derived 

 from British sources. Much of the influence was cer- 

 tainly French; on the Pacific coast and probably in 

 parts on the southern borders of the present United 

 States it was Spanish. It would be interesting to try to 

 trace the influence of the Dutch and other colonizers. 



The reader who desires to trace the beginnings of 

 fruit-planting in some of the territory from Nebraska 

 south and southwest should consult the "Proceedings 



of the Ameri- 

 can Pomologi- 

 cal Society" 

 for 1905 

 (pages 74-98). 

 In Nebraska, 

 apples were 

 planted in 

 1853. It ap- 

 pears that in 

 Kansas apple- 

 tree planting 

 has been re- 

 corded near 

 Shawnee- 

 town, John- 

 son County, 

 as early as 

 1827 by Rev. 

 Thomas 

 Johnson, the 

 variety being 

 the Newtown 

 Pippin. In 

 1836, he 

 planted pear 

 trees. In Ar- 

 kansas, J. B. 



1853. Relic of early days apple tree Russell, of 



at probably 250 years. Cane Hill, had 



a small nursery of apple trees in 1835. A little after this 

 date, Isaac Shannon originated the apple that bears his 

 name. Before the close of the seventeenth century, 

 the French at St. Genevieve, Missouri, had planted 

 pears, grapes and a few apples. In New Mexico, the 

 agricultural industry developed to some extent under 



1854. Bartram's cider-mill, a relic of the last century. 

 It is said that the apples were placed in the circular groove in 

 the rock and crushed by means of a weight rolling over them. The 

 juice ran out the gutter at the farther side and was caught in a 

 rock-hewn cistern. 



Spanish rule, and continued under the Mexican rule 

 from 1822 to 1845, but little reference is made to fruit. 

 It is recorded that the Bishop of Santa Fe, early intro- 

 duced apricots and apples from the States, and John 

 Clark planted apple trees from Missouri in Rio Arriba 

 County in 1859. 



The development of fruit-growing in the Northwest 

 is sketched for this occasion by C. I. Lewis. The first 

 authentic introducton of fruit into the Pacific North- 

 west (of the United States) was in 1824, when seed 

 was brought from England by members of the Hudson 

 Bay Company. This seed was planted near what is 

 now Vancouver, Washington, then a trading-post of 

 the Hudson Bay Company. Seeds of apples, grapes, 

 pears, and peaches were planted. The apple trees which 

 resulted from this seed are still standing on govern- 

 ment lands occupied by the Vancouver barracks. There 

 were other introductions by various persons, but they 

 probably had no influence on the growth of the fruit 

 industry in the Northwest. In 1847, Henderson Lewel- 

 ling, of Iowa, brought several hundred yearling grafted 

 sprouts of mixed fruits. The same year William Meek 

 brought a sack of apple seed and a few grafted trees. 

 These two men established the first nursery in the Pacific 

 Northwest at Milwaukee, Oregon, and laid the founda- 

 tion of our commercial fruit industry. In the following 

 ten or fifteen years, many men brought trees and seed, 

 and nurseries were started. From 1850 to 1870, fabu- 

 lous prices were received for fruit, one box of apples 

 selling for $75, while in 1855, 6,000 bushels of apples 

 sold for prices ranging between $20 and $30 a bushel. 

 The period between 1850 and 1870 also marked the 

 introduction of plums and prunes into the Northwest 

 country. The first Italian prune orchard was set in 

 1858 by Seth Lewelling. Between 1870 and 1890 was a 

 period of decline. The former demand from Cali- 

 fornia ceased and railroads were few, the freight rates 

 being exorbitant. Beginning early in the 1890's the 

 fruit industry of the Northwest began to revive. About 

 1900, the apple industry began to recover. In 1896, 

 the Lambert cherry was introduced commercially, 

 and has proved to be the greatest commercial cherry 



