after all, since they knew enough to find gustatory delight in such fruits as kind mother Nature provided for them in their exile.
Fruit culture is most fascinating and ennobling, as well as the most profitable branch of horticulture, and the advance in the fruit product is evidence of the culture and civilization of a people. It is hard to overestimate the beneficial influence on health, morals, and manners of a generous fruit supply. The ornamental grounds and orchards of the homestead do much in childhood to strengthen that love of home and pride of family which is the foundation of all patriotism. The cherished memories of home thus enriched are, in after life, the strongest bond of family to bring back the absent and wandering to the roof tree; and the erring one is not wholly lost as long as these sacred memories of home and childhood sometimes come to swell the heart and dim the eye with the tear of repentance and contrition.
The fruit industry as a business, in its variety, extent, and commercial importance, as we find it to-day, is of recent origin and within the memory of the present generation,—a worthy tribute to the brain and muscle of men of our time. National and international communication over water and land, the use of railroads with cheap freight rates and rapid transit in fruit and refrigerator cars created the supply; conversely the supply increased creates the greatest demand—an inexorable law of trade. The intelligent foresight and patient labors of those who inaugurated this industry in the far-off wilds of Oregon, are worthy a place in the archives of the State, and should be kept green in the memory of those to come after us.
