Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 7.pdf/34



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