THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE LAND.
A Brief History of Early Horticulture in Oregon.
By Dr. J. R. Cardwell, 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 gratifying results. There were here the apple—pyrus rivularia; the plum—prunus subcordata; the grape—vitis Californica; two elderberries—sambucus glauca and sambucus pubescens; the blackberry—rubus ursinus; four raspberries—rubus nutkanus, rubus leucodermis, rubus pedatus, and rubus spectabilis; the strawberry—fragaria Chilensis; several wild currants—ribes aureum, and others; three gooseberries, edible—ribes Menziesii; four or more cranberries—vaccinium parvifolium, vaccinium ovalifolium, vaccinium macrophyllum; the barberry—berberis aquifolium, known as the Oregon grape, our State flower; salal—gaultheria myrsinites; Juneberry or service berry, black haw—cratægus 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 Company 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
