PREFATORY NOTE. 



"What is it ? Only a handful of earth, to your touch 

 A dry, rough powder, you trample beneath your feet ; 



Dark and lifeless ; but think for a moment, how much 

 It hides and holds that is beautiful, bitter or sweet." 



of the earth cometh vine and plant, bush and tree, 



to bless mankind, "and there's no more beautiful riddle 

 the whole world round" for man to study than the mystery 

 of fruit culture. 



This, in Colorado, is in its infancy. We have but touched 

 the border-land of possibilities. We see, through the mists 

 of the present, the fruit-lands of the future ; but whether 

 they lie on the fair slopes and in the beautiful vallies of our 

 eastern border, or in the new and untried vallies beyond the 

 range on the Pacific slope, in Gunnison, Uncompahgre, 

 and Grand vallies along our western border, who shall be 

 daring enough to say positively ? For fifteen years fruit 

 culture has been an experiment with many, whose opinions 

 are grouped together in this Manual. And yet, who can 

 declare that he has mastered the difficulties that surround 

 the subject or can advise with perfect safety ? 



The Jeweler takes gems from many mines, and with 

 Iceen lapidarian skill, after a season of labor presents to the 

 eye a necklace or a tiara flashing in brilliancy and perfect 

 in color. But the gems he did not create. He was but a 

 master workman, worthy of credit only in so far as his skill 

 lias been shown. 



So the compiler of this little pamphlet claims for it no 

 merit as to any originality of his own. He has but brought 

 into compact shape and easy form the varied experience 



