Part 24

J. C. CURRAN, Curran, Harper county. I have lived in Kansas fifteen years. Have fifty apple trees eleven years old. For commercial orchard I prefer Ben Davis, Winesap, Missouri Pippin, and York Imperial, and for family orchard add some summer and fall varieties. Have tried and discarded Rawle's Janet, on account of slow growth. Bellflower is a fall apple here; and Jonathan is too small. I prefer bottom land, sandy loam, subirrigated, water at six feet. I prefer good two-year-old trees, head twenty-eight inches from the ground, planted in spring, after March winds. I cultivate my orchard all the time with a disc drawn by four horses. I plant no crop. Have some weeds and rabbits. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of mulberries planted not closer than forty feet to the first row of trees; would buy the mulberry sprouts from the nursery. I keep the rabbits down with dogs and shot-guns; dig borers out. I never thin my apples; the wind does it for me. I fertilize my orchard with barn-yard litter, but think it injurious to the trees. Do not pasture my orchard. Trees are troubled with canker-worm and tent-caterpillar, and fruit with curculio. I do not spray. Pick apples by hand. Never dry apples; it does not pay. Do not irrigate. Prices have been fifty cents per bushel in the fall, and one dollar per bushel in the winter.

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JOHN H. GOSCH, Norwich, Kingman county: I have lived in Kansas twenty years. Have an apple orchard of 100 trees eighteen years old. I prefer a bottom having dark soil. I plant two-year-old trees in large holes, well watered. I cultivate my orchard shallow, and mulch, using a disc. Never plant anything among the trees. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of two or three rows of mulberries, on the north and south sides of the orchard. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter, but do not put it near the trees; think it beneficial, and would advise its use on all southwestern Kansas soil. Am not bothered with insects. Do not spray. Apples have been one dollar per bushel.

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L. W. LEACH, Kingman, Kingman county: I have lived in Kansas twenty years. Have an apple orchard of about 300 trees, from fourteen to eighteen years old. Those that do the best here are Red June, Maiden's Blush, and Cooper's Early White.

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H. E. JESSEPH, Danville, Harper county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-five years; have an apple orchard of 800 trees, 100 of them but one year old and the other 700 are fourteen years old. For market I prefer Missouri Pippin, Ben Davis, and Winesap, and for a family orchard Grimes's Golden Pippin, Stark, and Cooper's Early White. Have tried and discarded the Nonesuch. I prefer bottom land with a deep loam that goes to water, with a north aspect. I prefer two-year-old trees set sixteen feet apart. I plant my orchard to corn for about eight years, using a disc harrow; and cease cropping at the end of that time. Windbreaks are essential; I would make them of Osage orange, Russian mulberries, or cottonwood, by planting all around the orchard, making it the heaviest on the south side. For rabbits I wrap the young trees with corn-stalks, and borers I dig out. I prune with pruning-shears and a chisel to increase the fruit; I think it pays. I thin my fruit while on the trees in June and July, and find it pays. My trees are in mixed plantings. I do not fertilize my orchard, but would advise it on all soils. I do not pasture my orchard; do not think it advisable; it does not pay. My trees are troubled with flathead borer, and my fruit with codling-moth. I do not spray. I hand-pick my apples in a sack, one corner of which is tied up to the top, it has a strap eighteen inches long to put over the shoulder; spread the top of the sack and pick with both hands. Sort my apples into two classes: first and second. I pick the best first, letting the inferior ones stay on the trees; I afterwards shake these off and send to the cider mill. I sell apples in the orchard. Make cider and vinegar of the second and third grades and culls. My best market is at home in the orchard. Never tried distant markets. Do not dry any; cannot find a ready market for them and it does not pay. Am successful in storing apples for winter use in bulk, in an outside cave; find the Little Red Romanite and Missouri Pippin keep best. I do not irrigate. Prices have been from sixty to seventy-five cents per bushel. I employ careful young men at one dollar per day or twenty-five dollars per month.

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SAM JONES, Springfield, Seward county: I have lived in Kansas thirteen years. Have an apple orchard of fifty trees. I am not keeping them for the fruit, but for the pleasure of the birds--to build nests and sing their sweet songs in. I cultivate my orchard all the time to keep the weeds down; plant it to vines, such as squashes, pumpkins, melons, etc. Do not pasture my orchard. I do not know of anybody that ever irrigated. In regard to "the Kansas Apple," in this part of the state, they are no good. I will say there never was ten bushels of apples grown in Seward county. I planted out two acres of apple trees ten years ago; they grew, and looked very well. I took good care of them, but they never would bear; and that is the experience of every one else. I cannot tell the cause, unless it gets too dry and hot, with hot winds. [Such things were said of the whole state of Kansas by many intelligent men thirty years ago. Mr. Jones does not tell what varieties he tried, and his remarks need not discourage any whose lot is cast in Seward county. While there are only 1034 apple trees reported in the whole county, yet the low price of trees should encourage every farmer to plant a few of the hardier varieties, if only as an experiment.--Secretary.]

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JOSEPH BAINUM, Langdon, Reno county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-five years. Have an apple orchard of twenty trees, most of them ten years old. For market I prefer Missouri Pippin and Winesap, and for family would add Early Pennock and Maiden's Blush. Ben Davis would not do any good for me. I prefer bottom or table land with a heavy subsoil and a northern slope. I prefer two-year-old trees with low heads, set in a ditch. I cultivate my orchard to corn as long as I can get in with a plow; I also use a disc and harrow. I cease cropping when the trees need all the moisture; do not plant anything in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of mulberry trees, set thirty or forty feet away from the orchard. For rabbits I use axle grease and sulphur mixed. I prune, leaving the tops low, and thin out the branches so as to give air and produce larger fruit; it has paid me. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter but do not put it close to the trees; I think it beneficial, and would advise its use on all soils. I have pastured my orchard with cattle and hogs; do not think it advisable; it does not pay. Trees are troubled with flathead borer and leaf-roller, and my apples with codling-moth. I have sprayed, but not lately, with London purple for codling-moth, just after the blossoms fell; it did not pay--did not reduce the codling-moth any. I go after insects not affected by spraying with a small wire. I pick my apples by hand in half-bushel baskets; sort into three classes--largest and sound, second best, and cider. I wholesale, retail, and peddle, and make the culls into cider and vinegar. Never have tried distant markets. I dry some with a Stutzman dryer; it is satisfactory. I pack them in cracker boxes and find a ready market for them at times; it does not pay. Am successful in storing apples two feet deep in bins, one above another, in a cellar walled up with rock; never tried any excepting Missouri Pippin and Winesap. I have to repack stored apples before marketing, losing about five per cent. I irrigate my orchard with water pumped into a reservoir 80x120 feet, and three feet deep. Prices have been from 50 cents to $1.25 per bushel; dried apples, ten cents per pound. I employ women at fifty cents per day.

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A. S. DRAKE, Bucklin, Ford county: Have lived in Kansas twenty years, and have 330 apple trees from three to eleven years old, part of them ten inches in diameter. I prefer good keeping apples for family use. I prefer bottom land, subirrigated, with a north and east slope. I prefer two-year-old trees, set the same depth as they grow in the nursery. I cultivate my orchard from three to eight years, in potatoes, with a plow and harrow; I plant nothing in a bearing orchard, and cease cropping when they shade the ground. Windbreaks are essential where orchards are exposed. I would make them of forest-trees. I protect from rabbits by wrapping with poultry wire. I dig borers out. I prune very little, just enough to stop top growth; I think it has been beneficial. I thin my apples when the limbs are unable to support them. I mulch only to hold back the bloom. I do not pasture my orchard. Borers trouble my trees. My apples are not troubled with insects. I pick my apples by hand, and put them carefully into a basket. I sort into two classes: first, sound and smooth; second, unsound. I do this work by hand. I pack in barrels, pressed full. My best market is at home; we eat and cook the best, and the culls I donate to the children. I never dry any. I store some in barrels, and am successful. I find those I keep from the family keep best. [?] The prevailing price has been one dollar per bushel. I employ men by the month.

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FRED MOORE, Great Bend, Barton county: I have lived in Kansas twelve years. Have 200 apple trees from one to sixteen years old. For family orchard I prefer Missouri Pippin, Winesap, and Maiden's Blush. I prefer bottom land, with north slope. I cultivate every year with stirring plow and harrow; plant nothing; think windbreaks essential, made of forest-trees. I wrap my trees with rags to protect from rabbits. I prune with a saw to thin the branches. I never thin apples. I fertilize with stable litter. My trees are troubled with flathead borers. Worms trouble my apples. I do not spray. I dig borers out with a knife, in August and September. Price has been fifty cents per bushel.

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W. G. OSBORNE, Medicine Lodge, Barber county: Have lived in Kansas since 1865. Have 150 apple trees, from two to fourteen years planted. I prefer root grafts, and plant in rows twenty to twenty-five feet each way. I cultivate in corn, using a plow. Keep rabbits down with hounds. I prune with a knife. I fertilize with barn-yard litter. Do not spray or irrigate.

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JOSEPH LEWIS, Bluff City, Harper county: I have been in Kansas twenty-two years; have an orchard of 1000 trees; the first were set in 1881. The varieties are Missouri Pippin, Ben Davis and Winesap for market, and Duchess of Oldenburg, Maiden's Blush and English Rambo for family use. I prefer bottom land, of level, sandy loam. I plant two-year-old thrifty trees in rows two rods apart. I grow nothing in the orchard, and never cease cultivating with a stirring plow, disc, and harrow. I believe windbreaks are essential in this county, and would make them of any thrifty forest-tree; Russian mulberry is good. I would put double rows around the orchard. I prune with shears and saw to thin the tops. I never use any fertilizer, and never allow stock in the orchard. Am troubled some with the flat-headed borer, which I remove with a knife. I spray with London purple just as the bloom begins to fall. I pick by hand, and sell in the orchard and otherwise; never dried any. I store for winter market in a cave in bulk, and am successful. The best keepers I find are Limber Twig, Striped Vandevere, and Ben Davis. Prices prevailing have been fifty cents per bushel; dried apples, from five to seven cents per pound.

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JOHN PIMM, Enon, Barber county: I have lived in Kansas sixteen years. Have an apple orchard of 2250 trees from four to twelve years old. For commercial purposes I prefer York Imperial, Ben Davis, Mammoth Black Twig, and Nero, also Shackleford; and for family orchard Jonathan, Early Harvest, Maiden's Blush, Missouri Pippin, and Winesap. Have tried and discarded White Winter Pearmain, Red Astrachan, and Mann. I prefer bottom land with a northern slope. I prefer two-year-old trees planted in a deep dead furrow. I cultivate my orchard to corn and garden-truck; cultivate four or five times during a season, the more the better; I use a disc; believe an orchard should always be cultivated. I cease cropping after six or seven years, and plant nothing in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of two rows of mulberries. For rabbits I use wrappers of wood veneer. I prune to shape the tree and to get rid of all surplus wood, and think it beneficial. I do not thin my fruit on the trees; the insects and wind do it for me. I do not pasture my orchard. My trees are troubled with flathead borer and twig-borer, and my apples with codling-moth. I have sprayed with London purple.

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L. L. LOVETTE, Toronto, Woodson county: I have lived in Kansas thirty-two years; have an apple orchard of thirty trees twelve to twenty years old. For market I prefer Missouri Pippin and Winesap, and for family use would add Early Harvest and Smith's Cider. Have tried and discarded Fall Pippin, Northern Spy, and Rambo. I prefer level prairie land well enriched, with black limestone soil and a sandy subsoil, northern aspect, to hold the trees back in the spring. I prefer large, smooth trees with good roots, planted in large holes with rotten chip manure. I cultivate my orchard to hoed crops, using a diamond plow. I plant bearing orchard to white beans, peanuts, etc., and cease cropping when well in bearing. Windbreaks are essential; I use soft maple four feet apart, in four rows around the orchard. For rabbits I wrap my trees with slough grass. I pasture my orchard with hogs, and think it advisable. My trees are troubled with tent-caterpillar and borers, and my apples with curculio. I sprayed once with Bordeaux mixture; have no faith in it; I may possibly have reduced the codling-moth a little. I now watch and burn the insects. [?] I pick my apples in a sack over the left shoulder, from a step-ladder wide at the bottom and narrow at the top. Sort into three classes: first take out all inferior for cider, then put the sound ones in the barn until late in the fall, when I sort, keeping No. 1's for spring, No. 2's for winter, and use all the rest for cider. I sell some apples in the orchard to neighbors, and some to grocerymen. I haul my best apples to market in a spring wagon with hay under them. We use many culls and give some away. My best market is at home. I dry some for market, then put them in sacks and keep in a cool place; find a ready market for them, but it does not pay. I store apples for winter market in a pit; am successful; find Winesap, Rawle's Janet and Missouri Pippin keep best. We have to repack stored apples before marketing, losing about ten per cent. of them. I water my trees artificially. Prices have been from $1 to $1.50 per bushel. I employ young men at one dollar per day and board.

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B. F. COX, Fowler, Meade county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-one years; have an apple orchard of 125 trees ten years old, six to ten inches in diameter. For family orchard I prefer Early Harvest, Maiden's Blush, Ben Davis, Gennetting, and Rawle's Janet. I prefer hill land, with a northeast slope, having a clay subsoil. I prefer two-year-old trees, set at crossing of furrows run both ways. I cultivate my orchard all the time with a plow and harrow; it is too dry in this climate to let weeds grow. Do not plant any crop. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of African tamarix, set in three or four rows around the orchard. For rabbits I grease lightly in the fall and wash off in the spring. I prune my young orchard with a knife, to balance the tree properly. I think it pays. Never have thinned the fruit while on the trees. My trees are in mixed plantings. I fertilize my orchard with barn-yard litter. I think it has been beneficial, and would advise its use on all clay soils. I do not pasture my orchard. My trees are troubled with tent-caterpillar and roundhead borer, and my apples with worms. I spray when in bloom, and again after blooming, with London purple. Do not think I have reduced the codling-moth any. I pick my apples by hand, and sort into two classes--family apples and hog apples. Am successful in storing apples for winter use in boxes in a cellar. I find Ben Davis and Rawle's Janet keep best. I irrigate my orchard, using a windmill and pump with a four-inch cylinder. Prices have been from fifty cents to one dollar per bushel.

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Dr. JAMES MYERS, Hutchinson, Reno county: Have lived in Kansas thirty-nine years. Have about 3000 apple trees eight years old, six to eight inches in diameter; fine, large trees. For market I prefer Winesap, Missouri Pippin, and Ben Davis; for home use, Early Harvest, Northern Spy, and Maiden's Blush. Most other varieties that are a success in the East are a failure here. I am satisfied with a few of the best varieties. In this county lowland is the best. I prefer a sandy land, on a clay subsoil, and a north slope, every time. I plant two- and three-year-old, clean, thrifty trees. I mark the ground in squares of one rod and plant in every other crossing, mismatching to make the trees zigzag. I will cultivate the orchard for forty years in this county if they live so long. I would grow corn amongst them for the first three or four years; after that, nothing; the less crop the better. I believe windbreaks are essential in small orchards, but in large orchards the trees will protect each other. For windbreaks I would plant maple or mulberry, at least two rods away from the apple trees. For protection against rabbits and borers, take lime and Portland cement, equal parts, mix with sweet milk to the consistency of paint; add one tablespoonful of Paris green, and apply with a brush; it will never fail. I prune while the tree is young; then the wound does not affect them so much; it pays, and is very necessary. I have never thinned, but think it necessary, just before the apples are half grown. I use no fertilizer whatever. I do not pasture my orchard much, but when I do it is with hogs, and I think it advisable when the fruit is wormy and falling off. I have some insects, but have never sprayed. For borers I use a knife. I pick in baskets, just as late as possible.

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J. O. EMERY, Cimarron, Gray county: Have lived in Kansas twelve years; have 400 apple trees four years planted, of the following varieties: Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Arkansas Black, Mammoth Black Twig, Rawle's Janet, and a few Yellow Transparent. Prefer bottom land in this county; plant only fifteen feet apart each way on account of the wind. Grow no crop in the orchard, and cultivate every two weeks until the 1st of August with a five-tooth cultivator. Have a double row of locusts and Osage-orange hedge all around the orchard, and consider windbreaks a necessity. I prune out the inside branches, leaving only four or five limbs, so they will not grow scrubby, and think it beneficial. I plowed under forty loads of stable litter to the acre before planting. I would not pasture an orchard. Am troubled some with web-worm and twig-borer, and have used a spray in June and August of concentrated lye and cold water; also, some Paris green and London purple for worms. I irrigate my orchard once every two weeks, from a reservoir 70x140 feet, and have apple trees that made 4-1/2 feet of growth last year. My reservoir is supplied by two windmills running four- and six-inch pumps.

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BEN. McCULLOGH, Ellinwood, Barton county: Have been in Kansas twenty-two years; have the biggest grove in Comanche township, Barton county, covering twenty acres, most of it in fruit of all kinds. Have 300 apple trees, planted from five to fourteen years, from eight to sixteen inches in diameter; varieties, Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Winesap, and Rawle's Janet. Have discarded the Nonesuch. My orchard is second bottom, black, sandy soil, and perfectly level. I planted two-year-old trees in rows both ways. I grow corn and potatoes in the orchard until the trees shade the ground pretty well, and then I grow nothing, but cultivate the ground until they get big and old enough to go without it. I believe windbreaks are essential in this country; mine is composed of three rows around the orchard, of box-elder and cottonwood. I wrap my trees while small to protect from the rabbits. Wash with lye for borers. While small I prune out the middle of the tree with knife and saw, but let the lower limbs grow to protect the trunk. I believe stable litter beneficial in an orchard, and use plenty of it. I do not believe in pasturing an orchard. I never spray. I always sell my fruit in the orchard; some wagons come forty miles for it, and pay me from fifty to seventy-five cents per bushel.

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