Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 7.pdf/47

Rh The geographical position of the country, its peculiar climatic surroundings, its adaptability to the production of certain fruits, and the lack of similar climatic conditions in vast areas certain to be the homes of vast populations, were pointed out and dwelt upon, and the certainty that these vast populations in the nature of things, would require immense supplies of our fruits, green, dried, canned, and preserved, was made apparent. This view of the case struck the country press forcibly. It was restated, reiterated, and continuously kept before the people with results, which, in their magnitude and importance, can only be hinted at in this article. But, much that was said, and all there was to say, applied as well to Oregon, and our practical thinking men took up the subject. The scare was over—the spirit was contagious. Old orchards were trimmed and cultivated and new ones set. All the fruits of the temperate zone, so far as tried, had done well in Oregon. Our Italian prunes, Bartlett pears, and Royal Ann and Black Republican cherries paid best, and were attracting favorable attention abroad. The last few years trees of these varieties had been set out by hundreds of thousands all over the State, but mostly through the Willamette Valley. The trees when properly cared for make a vigorous, healthy growth; and five years from the setting make pecuniary returns.

As these to-day are our leading varieties and of considerable importance and great promise in the future commercially, they seem to deserve some historical record. The prune, as before stated was introduced in 1847 by Henderson Luelling of Iowa. Our little German prune—Luelling prune—is the true German prune, a native of the Rhine, propagated from the seed, and cultivated more extensively in Germany and over the continent of Europe than any other fruit, and is the "butter" and the