356 



COLORADO 



from an address by Judge W. B. Pelton before the 

 State Horticultural Society, as published in the report 

 for 1887-8 : "The first fruit trees were set out in Fre- 

 mont county in 1867. W. C. Gatlin went to Pueblo 

 for an invoice of trees which had been ordered by him- 

 self and by Governor Anson Rudd, W. A. Helm and 

 Jesse Frazier. They had been brought across the 

 plains in a wagon to Pueblo, and Mr. Catlin brought 

 them to Canon, something over $.')00 worth of trees oc- 

 cupying a small .space in his wagon. A few of these 

 trees, and only a few, are still living. After his first at- 

 tempt, which was almost a total failure, Jesse Frazier 

 procured several thousand root grafts and set them out 

 in nursery rows. When they became large enough he 

 transplanted them into his orchard." By the year 1879, 

 Mr. Frazier had an orchard of 15 acres, the older portion 

 of which produced 3,000 bushels of apples. Since 1880, 

 the yearly additions to the orchard area of this county 

 have steadily increased, and fruit-growing is now recog- 

 nized as one of the leading industries of the county. 

 As in the other districts, the apple receives the most at- 

 tention, but pears, plums, and the small fruits are grown 

 in quantity. Peaches have been raised, but are not a 

 sure crop, owing to the liability to late spring frosts. 

 Farther down the Arkansas valley, in Otero county. 



the rirst fruit trees were planted about 1882, but general 

 interest in orchard planting did not develop until 

 some years later. During the past 5 years the area 

 planted has rapidly increased, and the county now 



COLQUHOUNIA 



stands about fourth in orchard acreage. The growing 

 of melons has within a few years brought this county 

 into prominence. Starte<l in a small way by farmers 

 near the town of Rocky Ford, the business has spread 

 into a great industry, and Rocky Ford melons and can- 

 taloupes have found theirway into all the large markets 

 of the country. 



The Western District. — The valleys constituting 

 this were included in the Ute Reservation, which was first 

 opened for white settlement in the fall of 1881. The 

 first fruit trees were planted the next spring by Messrs. 

 Hotchkiss and Wade, on their ranches lying along the 

 North Fork of the Gunnison in Delta county. In the 

 spring of 188a W. S. Coburn began planting what is now 

 one of the finest orchards in the state ; others followed, 

 and soon the fame of the "North Pork" as a fruit region 

 went abroad and served as a stimulus to planting in 

 other sections. It was not, however, until 1886 that 

 planting became general. In that year orchard planting 

 aboutGrand Junction, in Mesa county, began in earnest, 

 and at the same time the farmers of Montrose turned 

 their attention in the same direction. The development 

 of the industry from 1886 down to the present time has 

 been phenomenal. There appears to be no limit to the 

 successful culture of all temperate region fruits. On 

 the low bottom lands along the streams, the earlier 

 blooming varieties have occasionally been subjected to 

 injury from late frosts, but on the mesas this trouble is 

 never experienced, and here the tender varieties of Eu- 

 ropean grapes are successfully grown without winter 

 protection. The "peach belt" of the state lies within 

 this western district in the three counties — Montrose, 

 Delta and Mesa. The experimental stages of culture 

 have been passed, success is assured, and the business 

 of growing this fruit is in a fair way to become a large 

 one. 



The number of acres planted with orchard and small 

 fruits that received water from the ditches during the 

 year 1896 is given in the report of the state engineer as 

 follows: Northern district, 15,025 acres; Southern dis- 

 trict, 8,456 acres ; Western district, 22,162 acres. The 

 State Horticultural Society, which was organized in 

 September, 1880, has done much by its meetings and 

 exhibits to advance the horticultural interests of the 

 state, and its work has been supplemented by several 

 active county societies. 



From the present state of advancement, which has 

 been reached within a comparatively short time, it seems 

 certain that the fruit industry of the state has before 

 it a promising future. c. g. Ckandall. 



COLTSFOOT. See Tussilago Farfara. Sweet Colts- 

 foot is Petasites, formerly called Nardosma. 



COLUMBINE. ?,ee Aquilegia. 



COLQUHO&NIA (after Sir Robert 

 Colquhoun). Lahiilttv. Tender plants 

 'fZ3^ with dense whorls of gaping fls. an 

 '^- inch long or more, colored scarlet and 

 yellow. The genus has 5 species, all 

 from the Himalayas and Burma. 

 Erect or twining shrubs, woolly in 

 all parts when young : Ivs. large, 

 creuate : whorls few-fld., axillary or 

 crowded into a terminal spike. 



coccinea, Wall. Tall climber, with 

 very long branches ; Ivs. stalked, 

 ovate, acuminate, 3-5 in. long, crenate, dark green above, 

 roughish, typically with scarcely any woolliness e.xcept 

 when young: corolla twice as long as the calyx. B. M. 

 4.")U. C. tomentdsa, HouU., is probably identical. The 

 dense woolliness is probably temporary. R.H. 187.3: 130 

 shows a handsome terminal spike in addition to axillary 

 clusters, containing about 20 fls. — Not advertised, but 

 probably as worthy as the next. 



vestita. Wall. Very similar to C coccinea, except 

 that it is a low-growing, erect plant, and more densely 

 and permanently woolly on the stem, calyx and under 

 side of Ivs. Cult, outdoors at Santa Barbara, Calif. , but 

 not promising. w. M. 



