H. A. Condra, Longton, Elk county: I have resided in Kansas twenty-one years; have an apple orchard of seventy-five trees, twenty years old, ten to sixteen inches in diameter, twenty to twenty-five feet high. I have thirty more which are but two years old. For market I prefer Ben Davis, Winesap, Jonathan, and Missouri Pippin; and for family orchard Red Astrachan, Maiden's Blush, Rawle's Janet, Missouri Pippin, and Winesap. I prefer a bottom which has a rich loam, with a gravel subsoil and a north or east slope. I prefer two-year-old trees having but two limbs, both starting from the same place, set in holes four to six feet in diameter, two feet deep, filled in with good dirt. I cultivate my orchard to corn—so as to keep weeds down and hold moisture—use a disc harrow and cultivator so as to keep the soil loose and fine two or three inches down. I cease cropping after eight or ten years, and plant nothing in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are not essential. For rabbits I use tin from the roofs of burned buildings or building paper. I prune with a saw and an ax to thin the tops and keep the limbs above my head; think it pays. I do not thin the fruit while on the trees. My trees are planted in blocks [of same kind]. I fertilize my orchard with any well-rotted manure; I think it beneficial, and would advise its use on all soils, especially on old orchards. I do not pasture my orchard; do not think it advisable; it does not pay.
My trees are troubled with canker-worm, tent-caterpillar, leaf-roller, and leaf-crumpler, and my apples with codling-moth. I spray when the leaves first come out, when in blossom, and once or twice afterwards, ten days apart, with London purple and Bordeaux mixture for codling-moth and leaf-eating worms. Think I have reduced the codling-moth some. I stand on a step ladder and pick my apples by hand in a small basket, then pour them into a wagon. I sort into three classes—sound, blemished, and rotten. Sound ones are put in crates, blemished are made into cider, and the rotten ones go to the hogs. I pack in crates, for convenience, and then store in the cellar. They are made of lath and 1×12 boxing lumber. The lath are sawed across in the middle, the lumber into lengths of fourteen inches. The bottom and sides are lath one-half inch apart. This makes an airy crate, easy to handle, two feet long, fourteen inches wide and twelve inches deep, which when rounded up will hold one and one-half bushels of apples. I sell apples in the orchard; also retail and peddle. My best apples are usually sold in the orchard. Of the second and third grades we make cider, apple-butter, and vinegar. The hogs get the culls. My best market is at home. I do not dry; cannot find a ready market, and it does not pay.
I am successful in storing apples in crates in a cellar which has a wareroom overhead; the walls are of sandstone two feet thick, with six inches of dry sand between the ceiling of the cellar and the floor of the wareroom. A door is in the south end, and a window in the north, with screens so the outside shutter is open all the time except at noonday sun, and when raining or freezing. There is an air-shaft through ceiling to roof. The racks or shelves are made of 1×4 lumber, and there is one inch of space between the crates when slipped in, thus allowing the air to circulate around them. I have apples in the cellar now (April 25) while my neighbors who stored in bulk have none fit to eat; all are rotten. I find Rawle's Janet and Winesap keep best. I have to repack stored apples before marketing, losing about one-tenth of them. I do not irrigate. Prices have averaged thirty-five cents per bushel. Dried apples have been four cents for sun-dried and eight cents for evaporated.
T. H. Guest, Grafton, Chautauqua county: I have lived in this county twenty years. Have an apple orchard of 3000 trees ten years old. For market I prefer Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, White Winter Pearmain, and Little Romanite; and for family orchard Red June, Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Jonathan, Early Harvest, and Grimes's Golden Pippin. Have tried and discarded Bellflower and Willow Twig on account of blight. I prefer bottom land, with a black, sandy loam, clay subsoil, and northern aspect. I prefer one-year-old trees—switches—planted with a lister. I cultivate my orchard to corn eight years, then use a disc harrow, running both ways, keeping a dust mulch; I cease cropping at bearing age and plant nothing. Never put alfalfa in an orchard. Windbreaks are not essential here. For rabbits I use lath and woven wire, and concentrated lye for borers. I prune with a saw and shears, to increase the size and color of the fruit; I think it beneficial, and that it pays. I never thin the fruit while on the trees, but believe it would pay. My trees are in mixed plantings; I have Gilpin or Little Romanite growing beside Missouri Pippins; they blossom the same time. At picking time in the fall I have noticed a very marked difference in the Gilpin, it having the peculiarities of the Missouri Pippin: the increase in size, with the white specks and oblong shape peculiar to the Missouri Pippin. I also noticed a difference in the Romanite for two rows in; I tried keeping some of them until spring; some were quite mellow, and the flavor was much superior to that of the Romanites not near the Missouri Pippins. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter, but would not advise its use on heavy soils. Do not pasture my orchard; it is not advisable, and does not pay. My trees are troubled with canker-worm, tent-caterpillar, root aphis, flathead borer, fall web-worm, and leaf-roller; and my apples with codling-moth, curculio, and gouger. I spray successfully when the fruit buds appear in the spring, with Paris green, London purple and Bordeaux mixture for canker-worm, tent-caterpillar, and curculio. I hand-pick my apples in sacks and baskets from step-ladders, and sort into two classes—first and second—as we pick them; put them into two different vessels, and let the culls drop. I pack my apples in two-bushel packages, with blossom end down, mark with the grower's and consignee's names, and haul to market on a heavy truck. I sell some apples in the orchard to buyers from the territory. I make cider and vinegar of the culls, but do not dry, store nor irrigate any. Prices have been from twenty-five cents to one dollar per bushel.
G. W. Rhodes, Lowe, Chautauqua county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-two years. Have an orchard of 500 apple trees from five to twenty years old. For market I prefer Ben Davis and Jonathan, and for family orchard Ben Davis, Ortley, Maiden's Blush, and Grimes's Golden Pippin. Have tried and discarded Lawver, King and Baldwin on account of shy bearing. I prefer hilltop, with deep loam, limestone soil, and clay subsoil, with northeast slope. I prefer straight one-year-old trees, with plenty of roots, set in squares of twenty-five feet. I cultivate my orchard to corn or potatoes while the trees are small, using a plow and cultivator, and cease cropping after ten years; plant nothing in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are not essential, but would be beneficial; would make them of evergreens. For borers I wash the trunks of small trees with carbolic acid and strong soap-suds. I prune to thin the tops, so I can get in to gather the apples; it pays. I have thinned the fruit while on the trees, but not lately; haven't time; but think it pays. My trees are planted in rows, each variety by itself. I fertilize my orchard with barn-yard litter while I am cultivating; when the trees get larger I mow the grass and weeds and let lay as a mulch, and afterwards as a manure; this is all needed. Never have pastured the orchard, but think hogs with rings in their noses would be a benefit. My apples are troubled with codling-moth. I spray after the blossom falls with arsenates, for all kinds of insects that come early, especially the codling-moth; think I have reduced them. I pick my apples by hand from a ladder, bench, or get into the tree. We sort into two grades, large and small; sell them in the orchard to people from the west and Oklahoma, who haul them off in wagons. We have a great many dried apples, dried by the neighbors on shares; we find a ready market for them. I am quite successful in storing apples in bulk in a cave arched over with stone. Ben Davis, Winesap and Missouri Pippin keep best. Prices have been from twenty-five to sixty cents per bushel in the fall, and from $1 to $1.50 in the winter.
Jason Helmick, Cloverdale, Chautauqua county: Has lived in Kansas twenty-seven years. For all commercial purposes he prefers Missouri Pippin and Winesap, and adds a few summer and fall varieties for family use. Has tried and discarded Bellflower, because the fruit drops off, and Ben Davis, because it cannot stand heat and drought—the trees decay early. He prefers north or northeast slope, bottom land, with a deep, porous soil, the more porous the better. He pastures his orchard with horses, cattle, and hogs, and thinks it advisable if done with care; it pays. His trees are troubled with tent-caterpillar, flat-headed borer, and leaf-roller, which do little damage. His greatest drawback is drought and heat. He does not spray, and cuts borers out in August or earlier, and kills the caterpillars. Picks his apples by hand. Never sells them in the orchard; raises mostly for home use. Stores some in boxes in a cellar. Does not irrigate. Marketable apples usually sell for twenty-five cents per bushel.