274 
PRODUCTS OF THE OREGON TERRITORY. 
country farther south to allow beef to be barrelled 
successfully, and as all the domestic gramniverous 
animals cut their own food in Lower and Middle 
Oregon the year round, beef and wool may become 
profitable staples in that distant territory. 
Flax, hemp, and cotton, can be grown in the 
lower country. There is water-power in great 
abundance to manufacture them into fabrics for 
4iome consumption and foreign markets. Pine and 
cedar timber promises to be among its most valu¬ 
able articles of export. Indeed the whole western 
coast of America, and the islands of the Pacific, 
New Zealand excepted, will ultimately be supplied 
more or less with the lumber of this region. The 
inexhaustible stores of salmon and sardines which 
frequent the Klamet, Umqua, Columbia, and Fra¬ 
ser’s rivers, will constitute another most valuable 
staple. 
Indeed, the agricultural resources of the most 
valuable section of Oregon, are inferior to those of 
any of our states or territories in the valley of the 
Mississippi, and inferior to those of more than 
.halfof the territory in the Atlantic states; and 
Oregon Territory as a whole is, in its soil, the 
most cheerless and barren portion of the national 
domain. 
Twelve degrees of latitude, and about six de¬ 
crees oflongitude, 800 miles north and south, and 
400 east and west, a vast territory ; invaluable as 
an easily defended frontier; as the home of our 
national and mercantile fleets in the Pacific; and 
priceless as the termination of a railroad of GOO 
miles, uniting Puget’s sound with the navigable 
waters of the Missouri, and giving an easy and 
speedy overland transit for our commerce with 
China, into the heart of therepublic. Its agricul¬ 
tural resources are sufficient for this end; and to 
this end all its value tends. 
Thomas J, Faknham. 
New Flax. —The Rev. Samuel Parker in his 
tour through the Oregon Territory, mentions the 
spontaneous and prolific growth of flax in that re¬ 
gion. He says: “in everything, except that it is 
perennial, it resembles the flax which is cultivated 
in the United States ; the stalk, the boll, the seed, 
the blue flower, closed in the day, and open morn¬ 
ing and evening. The natives use it for making 
flshing-nets. Fields of this flax may be mowed 
like grass, for the roots are too large and run too 
deep in the earth, to be pulled like ours; and it 
would save the trouble of cultivating.” This is 
worthy an experiment among our agriculturists. 
Can any of our readers give us any information of 
its culture among us ? 
New species of Wormwood. —The above writer 
also describes a new variety of wormwood, by 
some called the wild sage, which grows near the 
Rocky Mountains where the soil is gravelly and 
barren. “ It grows 8 or 10 feet high, 4 or 5 inch¬ 
es diameter, and is frequently an obstruction to 
the traveller.” 
If similar to our wormwood, it would indicate 
an abundance of potash in the soil. 
The native fruits of that luxuriant region, he 
describes particularly. 
The Salalberry is a sweet and pleasant fruit, of 
a dark purple color, oblong, and about the bigness 
©f a grape. 
The Ser viceberry is about the size of a small 
thorn apple, black when fully ripe, and pleasantly 
sweet like the whortleberry. 
The Pambia is a bush cranberry. 
The Gooseberry has many varieties—The com¬ 
mon prickly, which grows very large on a .thorny 
bush ; the small white, which is smooth and very 
sweet; the large, smooth purple-; and the smooth 
yellow, which are also of fmeflavor. All of these 
attain good maturity, and such as grow on the 
prairies are very superior. 
Currants. —There are three varieties ; the pale 
red, the yellow, which tastes well, and the black. 
The Snowberry , {Symphoria racemosa ,) the 
beautiful shrub which groAvs in our gardens, is 
found here wild, and in great abundance. 
Raspberries abound in all their varieties; in ad¬ 
dition to which, there is a new species growing in 
the woods. The berry is three times the size of 
the common, of a very delicate, rich yellow, but 
the flavor is not so agreeable. This description 
corresponds with the Antwerp cultivated to some 
extent in our country. 
The trailing Honeysuckle is beautiful and abun¬ 
dant. 
The sweet-ftorvcring Pea grows spontaneously, 
and in great luxuriance. 
While and red Clover abound. 
Strawberries are prolific, and of peculiarly rich 
flavor. 
Sunflowers are numerous, but of small size. 
Broom-Corn , a new variety on the bottom-lands. 
Wild grain resembling barley or rye is indige¬ 
nous. 
Roots. —The Wappatoo is the common saggita- 
ria or arrowhead, and is found only in the valley 
of the Columbia, below the cascades. The root 
is bulbous, and becomes soft by roasting, forming 
a nourishing and agreeable food, is much used by 
the Indians, and is an article of trade. It grows 
in shallow lakes and marshes, covered with wa¬ 
ter. The cammas , a truncated root in the form of 
an onion, is of great importance to the Indians, and 
grows in moist, rich ground. It is washed, pound¬ 
ed, and made into loaves like bread, and has a 
taste resembling liquorice. The cowish, or bis¬ 
cuit root, grows on dry land somewhat larger than 
a walnut, tastes like the sweet potato, is prepared 
in the same manner for food as the cammas, and 
is a tolerable substitute for bread. The ratine, 
amere, or little root, which grows on dry ground, 
is fusiform, and, though not pleasant to the taste, 
is very conducive to health. The common onion 
is found here; and another, characterized by its 
beautiful red flower, which often grows on volcanic 
scoriae, where no other vegetation is seen. 
We find in the Batavia Advocate the following 
synopsis of a letter from one of the Oregon mission¬ 
aries, dated at Clowewalla, August 26, 1842:— 
The writer speaks of the country in the highest 
terms of praise; says the soil is very fertile, and 
wheat is raised year after year on the same ground, 
without any diminution. The crop of last year 
