Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 7.pdf/163

Rh in Boston by express, the charge being about $3. The variety was "Gloria Mundi," nearly six inches in diameter, weight 42 ounces. The apple was weighed by Dr. J. R. Cardwell, the dentist, then visiting at Corvallis, who remembers the apple and price paid for it. The next October, 1857, I came to Oregon, went to Corvallis and paid $8 a bushel for Oregon red apples and sold them at $1 a dozen. .

To make record of a perhaps original horticultural trick, and the possibilities of the Pound pear, I vouch for the following story, which I know to be true. It was how Mr. J. W. Walling beat the world's record possibly for all time, in the growth of the Pound pear.

As is evident, Mr. Walling was somewhat original and withal a practical fruit-grower. He in-arched into one body two of our native thorns (Cratægus brevispino) of thrifty growth, planted in a black, loamy soil near a flowing spring. On the top, thus growing in-arched into one body, he grafted the Pound pear. When this tree came into bearing, of good size and vigorous growth, he removed all the young pears but two of the largest and most promising. These he suspended in sacks to support an unusual weight. In the dry season of the late summer and fall, a large tub with spigot filled with water to supply just the right moisture, was placed over the roots. The result of this proceeding was two enormously large pears, one weighing 54 ounces, shown in some of our local fruit meetings, probably in 1858. This pear was sent to the Department of Horticulture, Washington, D. C., and was rightly regarded as a world's wonder in the pear family.

Our Royal Ann cherry, (Napoleon Bigarreaux,) clean, bright, and beautiful, ran in those days, 3 to 3¼ inches in circumference. Peaches, when we had them, strawberries, blackberries, gooseberries, and currants, accordingly large. The size, quality, and beauty of our fruits were always a surprise to newcomers.