Part 15

J. F. RUHLIN, Wetmore, Nemaha county: Has been in Kansas seventeen years. Owns an apple orchard of 1150 trees, set out from one to three years. Set Ben Davis, Jonathan, Winesap, Missouri Pippin, and for family orchard would add the Maiden's Blush, Rambo, Rome Beauty, and Grimes's Golden Pippin. Has discarded Early Harvest, Red June, and Red Astrachan. Wants upland always, north or northeast slope if possible, and a loose, friable soil, with gravelly subsoil. On planting, he says he uses two-year-old, short, stocky trees with bushy tops and lots of roots, which he prunes back at setting. Sets trees deeper than they grew at the nursery, 20x30 feet. Puts a barrel half full of soil and water on a sled, and puts ten to twenty trees into it at a time; takes out a tree and sets it with as little exposure of roots to the air as possible. Cultivates well, keeping the ground clean in the tree row all summer. This winter, 1897-'98, he saw fine ten-year-old trees completely girdled by mice, in an orchard that was neglected last summer, and weeds and grass allowed to grow next the trees; these held the snow around the trees, and allowed the mice to burrow under to the tree. Grows corn as a protection to the trees in summer, using a five-tooth one-horse cultivator, shallow and often, near the trees, until they begin to bear, when he sows to clover, and mows frequently. Thinks windbreaks are essential, and if used would make them of Osage orange or mulberry, not very close to trees on north and west sides. Protects from rabbits by wrapping with corn-stalks and will try leaving them on this summer as a protection from sun-scald. Prunes interlocking limbs to get into shape; believes it beneficial. Believes thinning would pay on choice varieties if tree was very full. Believes in using all the barn-yard litter possible, especially on poor soil. Never has pastured orchard, but might put in horses or sheep. Thinks it would hardly pay. Never has sprayed, but believes in it. Digs out borers. Prefers to wholesale fruit in orchard.

* * * * *

JOSEPH C. REA, Brenner, Doniphan county: Have been in Kansas twenty-seven years. Have 4000 trees six to twelve years old. I prefer for commercial orchard Ben Davis and Missouri Pippin; add, for family orchard, Minkler. Discarded Lawver because it did not bear. I prefer side-hill, clay loam, with a north slope. Prefer trees without forks, and plant a little deeper than in the nursery. I cultivate with the plow and cultivator until they begin to bear. I plant a young orchard to corn, a bearing orchard to clover, and cease cropping when they begin to bear. Windbreaks are not essential. I wrap my trees with corn-stalks to protect from rabbits. I prune to improve the fruit, and think it beneficial. Never dry apples. Think that if Jonathans are planted near other trees they are better, bigger, and fuller. Winesap and Chenango Strawberry are varieties adjoining mine. Do not fertilize; would not advise its use. Do not pasture orchard; not advisable. My trees are troubled with buffalo tree-hopper. I dig borers out. I pick by hand and sort from a table. I sort into three classes--first, the fairest and reddest; second, smaller and paler; third, rough and poor. I prefer three-bushel barrels to pack in; fill as full as possible, and mark with my name. I sell in orchard, also wholesale. Leave culls on ground. My best market is home; the buyers come and get them. I store in barrels, and find that Minkler and Mammoth Black Twig keep best. I got $1000 for 805 barrels last year. I employ young men and boys, and pay $1.25 to $1.50 per day.

* * * * *

ELI HOFFMAN, Donegal, Dickinson county: Have been in Kansas nineteen years. Have 500 apple trees, nine years planted, made up of 150 Ben Davis, 150 Missouri Pippin, 75 Winesap, and 125 of summer and fall varieties. I prefer bottom land; don't want hilltop, unless level; don't want any slope; would subsoil the year before planting, then plant twenty-four feet apart each way the following year. Grow corn or potatoes the first four years, and after that, nothing. Cultivate up to nine years old; the disc and corn cultivator are good the first years; I keep it as clean as a California orange grove; cease cropping after four years. I think windbreaks are necessary, and would make them of a double row of mulberries eight feet apart. For rabbits I put wire screen around the trees. I use the pruning-knife and saw to give air. I would not pasture an orchard. Have not sprayed, but intend to, with London purple.

* * * * *

E. M. GLASPEY, Nortonville, Jefferson county: Have lived in Kansas fourteen years. Have 700 apple trees from twenty to twenty-five years old. Prefer Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin and Winesap for market; and Winesap, Golden Sweet and Early Harvest for family use. I prefer bottom land with a north aspect, soil suitable for wheat is good for apples; would turn in cattle after the crop is gathered, and think it pays. When the bloom falls I spray with London purple. I pick in half-bushel baskets and place in large piles in the orchard. I sort into three grades; No. 1 is best, which I generally sell to shippers; No. 2 next, which I sell in the city to families or to dealers; the culls I peddle out, and also make into cider. My best market is Atchison. I shipped once to a commission house in Topeka, but it did not pay. I never dry any; sometimes I store for winter in bulk in the cellar, and find that Missouri Pippin and Willow Twig keep the best. I employ men and boys at seventy-five cents to one dollar per day.

* * * * *

W. H. TUCKER, Effingham, Atchison county: Has lived in Kansas thirty-eight years; has an orchard of 500 trees, 200 of them planted twenty years and 300 planted six years. Advises for commercial orchard Ben Davis, Gano, and Missouri Pippin, and adds to them for family orchard Early Harvest, Maiden's Blush, Genneting, and Jonathan. Has discarded Smith's Cider. Prefers rich, sandy upland with red clay subsoil, with a northeast slope. He planted vigorous four-year-old trees, first plowing, then twice harrowing; then furrow out deeply each way thirty feet apart, and set a tree at each crossing. He cultivates with ordinary tools from six to eight years, until trees begin to bear, growing corn, potatoes or beans in the orchard; then seeds to clover. Believes windbreaks essential and makes his of soft maple, ash, and walnut. For rabbits he uses Frazer's axle grease, and kills borers with knife. Prunes little until after the trees are fifteen years old; prunes only to give shape and keep from being too brushy. Uses stable manure and lime as fertilizers and believes it would pay on all soils he ever saw. Pastures his old orchard with hogs at certain times of the year, and says it pays. Is troubled some with insects, and sprays twice each year with London purple. Has not been fully successful. Picks in baskets and sacks. Makes two grades--selects and sound fair size. Packs only in barrels; often sells in orchard. For last few years has used a few culls for vinegar, and let the rest rot on the ground. Best market is at home. Has tried distant markets and made it pay. Never dries any, and for the last six years has stored none for winter. Prices have ranged from twenty to forty cents per bushel. Uses farm help at seventy-five cents to one dollar per day.

* * * * *

J. F. HANSON, Olsburg, Pottawatomie county: Have lived in Kansas thirty years; have an orchard of 1500 trees, ten and twelve years old. Use for commercial purposes Winesap, Jonathan, and Missouri Pippin. For family use I add Maiden's Blush and Early Harvest. My land is a black loam, in the bottom, with an east slope. I plow deep, then list a furrow each way, and plant at the crossing. I usually grow millet in the orchard for seven or eight years, and then--if anything--clover or orchard-grass. I believe windbreaks are essential, and would place on the north and west sides Osage orange or mulberry trees. For rabbits, I wrap my trees. For the borers, I use whitewash. I do not pasture. I have some insects, but have not sprayed. I pick by hand, and sort into two classes, according to size and quality. I retail my best in the orchard and elsewhere; of the culls I make cider. I store for winter in barrels in the cellar; am successful in keeping Winesap, Jonathan, and Missouri Pippin, losing only about one-tenth. Prices have run from twenty cents to one dollar per bushel. For picking, I use boys from town.

* * * * *

WILLIAM J. HENRY, Lowemont, Leavenworth county: Been in Kansas twenty-seven years; have 2500 apple trees; 1600 bearing and 900 younger. For market varieties I use Ben Davis and Jonathan; for family orchard, Winesap, Rawle's Janet, Maiden's Blush, and Early Harvest. I prefer bottom land for Ben Davis and hilltop for Jonathan; northeast slope is best. The soil preferred for most apples should be clay, while for Ben Davis I prefer black loam. I plant good healthy two-year-olds, twenty-four by twenty-four feet on the hill, and thirty by thirty feet in the bottom. I have grown root grafts with great success. I cultivate in corn for six years, with a diamond and shovel plow, with a single horse, and by all means avoid a turning plow. After this I grow weeds or clover, but use a mowing-machine. Windbreaks are essential here, and should be made of a heavy hedge or forest on the northwest. I wrap with brown paper for mice and rabbits. Use a knife on borers, which are the only insects that bother me. I prune to shape the tree when young, and to increase the quality of the fruit when older; it is beneficial, and pays. Winds in Kansas are more than sufficient for thinning purposes, and often thin to excess. I have tried apple trees in blocks of a kind, and also mixed, and can see no difference in fertility. I use stable litter, rotten straw, etc.; it is next to cultivation. I would always use such on thin soil, and on rich soil if it is not cultivated. I turn any and all kinds of stock in after gathering the fruit, and think it pays, but I would not allow any live stock in a young orchard. I am troubled some with canker-worm, flathead borer, and codling-moth. I spray from the shedding of the bloom until of the size of peas, using London purple, to perfect the fruit. I believe I have reduced the codling-moth some. For picking I use good careful hands, with baskets and ladders. We sort on a cull table in the orchard into No. 1 and No. 2. I prefer eleven-peck barrels, filled full enough to head without bruising, stencil the end and haul to market in a lumber wagon. I often sell in the orchard my best apples in barrels; the second grade I often sell in the orchard, too; third grade I peddle; culls I make into cider. My best local market is Lowemont; best distant market is Denver, Colo. I never dry any. I store in an out cellar covered with dirt, in barrels, and find Winesap keeps the best. I lose about one-tenth. Prices for the last four years have run from 75 cents to $1.50 per barrel. I use the most careful men, and pay seventy-five cents and board, or $1.25 without board.

* * * * *

CHAS. WARDEN, Leonardville, Riley county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-seven years; have an apple orchard of 300 trees, from five to sixteen years planted. For market I prefer Ben Davis, Winesap, and Missouri Pippin; and for family, Maiden's Blush, and some other varieties. I prefer hilltop with black loam and clay subsoil, with an eastern slope. I plant two- and three-year-old trees in deep furrows thrown out with a plow. I plant my orchard to potatoes and beans for eight years, using a cultivator, and cease cropping when the trees shade the ground; plant nothing in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of soft maple, Russian mulberry, or ash, two rows around the orchard, three rods from the apple trees. To protect from rabbits, I wrap the trees with stalks and straw. I prune my trees with a saw, so that I can get in to pick the fruit. I think it beneficial. I never thin the fruit while on the trees. I fertilize my orchard; think it has been beneficial, and would advise it on all soils. Do not pasture my orchard. Trees are troubled with tent-caterpillar. I spray after the apples have formed, with London purple, to kill the insects. After picking my apples, I leave them in piles in the orchard until cold weather, when I carry them in. Sort into two classes--cider, and selling; peddle my best apples, and make cider of the second and third grades. Clay Center is my best market. Never dry any. I store some for winter on shelves eight inches deep, and am successful. I find Winesap keeps best. We have to repack stored apples before marketing, losing about fifteen per cent. I do not irrigate. Price has been seventy-five cents per bushel. I employ men at one dollar per day.

* * * * *

PHILLIP LUX, Topeka, Shawnee county: I have lived in Kansas thirty years. Have an apple orchard of 1200 trees from six to nine years old. For market I prefer Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Jonathan, York Imperial, and Grimes's Golden Pippin, and for family would add to the above Benoni, Maiden's Blush, Early Harvest, Red June, Duchess of Oldenburg, Early Ripe, and Yellow Transparent. Have tried and discarded Willow Twig, Smith's Cider, Kansas Keeper, Wagener, Talman Sweet and White Winter Pearmain on account of blight and other good reasons. I prefer clay upland and subsoil, with northeast aspect. I use only number one two-year-old trees, planted in furrows opened up with a plow, and deep enough to receive them without the use of a spade. I plant sixteen by thirty-two feet. I cultivate my orchard to corn for four or five years, using a hoe, plow, and five-shovel cultivator with one horse; cease cropping after four or five years; grow clover and weeds in a bearing orchard, mowing twice a year and let lay on the ground. Windbreaks are not absolutely necessary. For rabbits I find wood veneers to be best and cheapest; they come in blocks; turn one end to the sun or fire to dry; then put on coal-tar and stick this end in the ground. I prune a little during the first five years after planting, keeping the heaviest part of top to the southwest. It will always pay if judiciously done. I never thin my apples while on the trees. Do not pasture the orchard with anything but chickens; it pays in eggs. My trees are troubled with roundhead borer, fall web-worm, leaf-roller, and canker-worm, and my apples with codling-moth. Have not sprayed, but soon intend to, with London purple. I dig borers out with a knife. I pick apples in half-bushel baskets; sort into two classes, putting all fine, sound and good size in first grade. I pack in three-bushel barrels and send to market as soon as ready by railroad. I sometimes sell my apples in the orchard. I also wholesale and retail, and sell the second and third grades where I can get the most for them; feed the culls to stock or let rot. Have tried distant markets and found it paid. Do not dry any.

* * * * *

FAYETTE A. SMITH, Belleville, Republic county: I have lived in Kansas thirty-one years; have an orchard of 200 apple trees from six to eight years old. For commercial purposes I prefer Ben Davis, Winesap, and Missouri Pippin; and for family, Winesap, Missouri Pippin, and Rawle's Janet. I have tried and discarded Cooper's Early White; it is too tender. I prefer two feet of good soil on a hill; don't care what is below if drainage is good; think a northern slope best. I prefer fresh, vigorous, two-year-old trees with well-formed top, set in land plowed for two preceding years in deep furrows both ways; open holes with hoe, then tramp dirt well around roots. I cultivate my orchard with corn or potatoes for ten or fifteen years, using a small one-horse stirring plow, wrapping the ends of the singletree. Cease cropping when the trees get too large. Windbreaks are not essential, but think they might be beneficial to some kinds, on the south side, to protect from hot winds. Would make them of Russian mulberry or willows. Any smell of blood or fresh meat will keep the rabbits off; I do not like wrappers, as they harbor vermin. I prune my trees some, cutting out small limbs to let in light; think it beneficial. I thin the fruit on my trees by knocking them off with a pole, if I can't do better, at any time; it pays when overloaded. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter; do not put it close to trees; think it beneficial if not too coarse; would advise its use on soils where it will not force too rank a growth. I pasture my orchard with growing calves, but do not think it advisable; it does not pay. My trees are troubled with tent-caterpillar, flathead borer, and leaf-roller; and my apples with codling-moth and curculio. I do not spray; but think it would be beneficial. I pick my apples from a common orchard platform ladder. Do not raise any apples for market. Do not dry or store any, or irrigate. Prices have been twenty-five to sixty cents in the fall, fifty cents to one dollar in the winter. Average about sixty cents per bushel for good apples. Dried apples have been five to seven cents per pound.

* * * * *

J. F. CECIL, North Topeka, Shawnee county: I have lived in Kansas twenty years. Have an apple orchard of 200 trees, six to eight years planted, three to four inches in diameter. I prefer for market Winesap, Grimes's Golden Pippin, York Imperial, and Missouri Pippin; and for family orchard Red June, Benoni, Summer Rambo, Grimes's Golden Pippin, Jonathan, Winesap, and Rawle's Janet. My orchard is situated on a hill. I prefer mulatto soil, with red subsoil. I prefer young, thrifty trees, planted in furrows made with a plow and subsoiler. I plant my orchard four to six years with any cultivated crop; if it is corn or potatoes I use an ordinary corn cultivator; at other times I use an Acme harrow. I cease cropping when the trees begin to bear, and then plant to clover. Windbreaks are essential; I would make them of Osage orange, evergreens, or any body of timber, placed so remote that the orchard is not deprived of its nourishment. For rabbits I wrap the trees, and use potash for borers. I trim my trees while young with a knife, to encourage low heads; it pays if done moderately. It pays to thin Winesap and Rawle's Janet while on the trees. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter; would advise its use on all soils. Do not pasture my orchard. Trees are troubled with canker-worm, tent-caterpillar, bagworm, flathead borer, buffalo tree-hopper, fall web-worm, leaf-miner, and leaf-crumpler; and my apples with codling-moth and curculio. I have spayed with Paris green for the above-mentioned insects; am satisfied that I have checked them.

* * * * *

JAMES M. WILLIAMS, Home, Nemaha county: I have lived in Kansas nearly eighteen years. I have 400 apple trees, fifteen years planted, and of good size. I prefer bottom land, black soil, with clay and limestone subsoil, sloping a little to the south. I prefer to plant good three-year-old trees, twenty-four by thirty feet apart; I cultivate all the time with cultivator and harrow. I grow corn in the orchard from eight to ten years, and oats after that. I think windbreaks are essential, and would make them of native timber, planted south of the orchard. I prune with a knife and saw, and believe it makes the fruit larger and better; I never thin on the tree. I like to put plenty of stable litter and old straw at the roots of the tree in winter. I pasture with hogs after the oats come up; they eat all the windfall apples and thus destroy insects. Am troubled some with caterpillars, borers, and codling-moth. Have never sprayed any. I pick by hand in sacks, from step-ladders, and put in piles. We sort by hand into three classes--No. 1's and No. 2's for market, and No. 3 for the hogs. I sell my best by the wagon-load in the orchard; my seconds I sell the same way, but cheaper. I never dry any. I store in the cellar, in barrels, for winter sales to winter dealers. I find the best keepers are Winesap and Rawle's Janet. Prices in the fall, forty cents; in the winter, seventy-five cents. I hire men for help and pay one dollar per day and board.

* * * * *

H. C. COOPER, Morganville, Clay county: I have been in Kansas twenty-eight years; have 300 apple trees, planted fifteen and nineteen years. The best for commercial purposes are Winesap, Missouri Pippin, Ben Davis, and Rome Beauty; for family use, Red Astrachan, Early Harvest, Grimes's Golden Pippin and Winesap. I have tried and discarded Willow Twig; it rots on the tree, and, by the time it gets to bearing, dies. The Snow rots on the south side and dies. The Keswick Codlin is a good bearer but too short-lived. I prefer side-hill, sloping to the north, soil a black loam, without hard-pan or joint clay. I prefer trees two years old, limbs two feet from the ground and not too heavy top, set thirty-five feet apart, at the junction of furrows run out both ways with a lister. I grow nothing in an orchard. Do not cultivate. I simply keep down the weeds, and let the tree take care of itself. I don't think the roots should be troubled in Kansas. I believe windbreaks are essential; and would put them of box-elder on the north and west of the orchard. For protection against rabbits, when you first set your tree take a good handful of slough-grass long enough to reach to the first limb, tie at the top, in the middle, and bottom, and leave it on till it rots off; neither rabbits, borers nor sun-scald will trouble a tree thus covered. Cut out watersprouts; but never cut off a limb without good reason. Put stable litter around your trees in a circle for the first three years. Never pasture the orchard. Am troubled with some insects, and have never sprayed but four trees as an experiment; the apples did not rot or fall off. We pick by hand from a ladder, and sort and place in piles in the cellar, each kind by itself. I market my best apples at home, selling some in the orchard; the culls I make into vinegar. I store some for winter in bulk in a cellar cave, and find that the Winesap and Missouri Pippin keep the best. I pay fifty cents per day for help.

* * * * *