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UNIVERSITY Of ILLiNGlS 
AGRICULTURE LIBRARY 
NOTES ON PLUM CULTURE. 
BY CHARLES S. CRANDALL. 
Prefatory note on the application of horticultural rules. 
There are certain general rules in the practice of horti¬ 
culture that are capable of wide application. If we say that 
cherry trees should never be planted on wet or mucky soil, 
we state a general rule, equally applicable to any section of 
the country. 
There are certain other rules, such as those governing 
the choice of varieties, selection of stocks, season for and 
manner of budding or grafting, time of planting and fre¬ 
quency of irrigation, that may be called specific rules. These 
are of necessity local in character and maybe quite restricted 
in application. 
Possibly no state presents greater diversity in local con¬ 
ditions that govern horticultural practice than does Colo¬ 
rado. Not only do wide differences exist between eastern 
and western sides of the Continental Divide, but either slope 
may be divided into sections that would warrant considera¬ 
ble differences in practice on many points, and then, each 
section may have peculiarities that would subdivide it. Even 
the'differences between the two banks of a stream, or the 
varying soil conditions of two adjoining farms, may present 
factors that modify successful practice. 
If a man moves from one section to another he will 
naturally attempt to grow the varieties and follow the meth¬ 
ods with which he is familiar. He meets failure in many 
particulars and after a time learns by experience that his 
new surroundings call for different methods and likely differ¬ 
ent varieties. It has always been the experience in new 
countries that the pioneers in horticultural work made mis¬ 
takes which they found expensive and discouraging, but by 
persistence they learned to avoid the early errors and finally 
