C. L. Kendrick, Waverly, Coffey county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-five years. Have an apple orchard of 375 trees, eighteen years planted. For commercial purposes I prefer Ben Davis, Jonathan, Missouri Pippin, and Winesap; for family orchard, Early Harvest, Summer Queen, and Sherwood's Favorite [Chenango]. Have tried and discarded Bellflower and Rawle's Janet; they are a failure. I prefer hilltop, with a deep clay soil, slightly sandy, and a north or northeast slope. I prefer two-year-old trees, with smooth, heavy bodies, and a low top, set in holes forty feet apart, with a little loose dirt thrown in the bottom, the trees leaning a little to the southwest. I cultivate my orchard to sweet corn and castor-beans, using a disc run deep, excepting close to trees; I cease cropping after five years, and sow a bearing orchard to clover. Windbreaks are essential, and I would make them of maple, Russian mulberry, or Osage orange, set in rows close together, and cut top off maples at four feet. I use building paper as a protection against rabbits, and for borers I whitewash the trees; then remove about three inches of earth from the trees and pour some around the roots. I prune with a saw and shears, to admit more air and sun; I think it beneficial, and that it pays. I never thin my fruit on the trees. My trees are in mixed plantings, and I find them and Mrs. Garrison's and several others' are thus more fruitful; the varieties used are Ben Davis, Jonathan, Winesap, Missouri Pippin, and Sherwood's Favorite, planted in alternate rows east and west. I never fertilize my orchard; I think clover left in an orchard for two years and then plowed or cut in with a disc is the best fertilizer for an orchard after it begins to bear. I never pasture my orchard; do not think it advisable.
My trees are troubled with bag-worm, roundhead borer, bark-louse, and fall web-worm. My apples are troubled with curculio. I spray with London purple and lime, with a pump, just after the fruit is formed, for web-worm and curculio. I think I have reduced the codling-moth by spraying. I get after insects not affected by spraying with a knife. I gather apples by hand in a sack, and sort into three classes: the large and smooth, second size, and culls. I sort from the piles after picking; then sell or bury them. I prefer two-and-one-half-bushel barrels, with straw in the bottom and around the sides, marked with a tin tag, and hauled to market in a heavy spring wagon. I sell in the orchard, wholesale, retail, and peddle; I sell my best apples to shippers, peddle the second and third grades, and make cider of the culls. My best market is Ottawa; have never tried a distant market. I store apples in bulk or bin, in a fruit house built on a well-drained place; the house is made of flax straw, posts, and wire or boards to hold the straw in place; the walls are three and one-half feet thick, four and one-half feet high, and the roof two and one-half feet, with ventilator in the center. The door is in the east end. I use two doors, one on the inside, and one on the outside, filling the space between with flax straw. Am successful in keeping apples, and find those that keep best are Jonathan, Winesap, Missouri Pippin, and Smith's Cider. Winter apples have been forty-five cents per bushel.
W. J. Albright, Julia, Kingman county: Have lived in Kansas eighteen years; have an apple orchard of 500 trees, six to seventeen years old, four to ten inches in diameter, I prefer bottom land for an orchard. I cultivate my orchard by subsoiling and shallow cultivation, using a disc and Acme harrow; I grow nothing in a bearing orchard, not even weeds. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of Osage orange or Russian mulberries. Am not troubled with rabbits or borers. I prune some; it makes better trees. I do not thin the fruit while on the trees. I fertilize my orchard with cow-stable litter, but do not think it beneficial. I do not pasture my orchard. My apples are troubled with codling-moth. I sprayed five years with Paris green and London purple, and was not successful. I gather my fruit off the ground. My best market is at home. We dry apples for home use, and do not store any. I irrigate with a windmill and earth reservoir; it makes big trees.
L. J. Haines, Galena, Cherokee county: Has been in Kansas nineteen years. Has an orchard of 2500 trees, fourteen years planted, averaging eighteen inches in diameter, planted for commercial purposes, and comprising Willow Twig, Ben Davis, and Winesap, which varieties he would also recommend for family orchard. Has tried and discarded Snow and Missouri Pippin, as they would not bear fruit; cannot tell why. Prefers alluvial soil, with clay subsoil susceptible of good drainage, south slope preferred. Cultivates always with plow, leaving a deep center furrow. Tries to eradicate all growth between the trees in a bearing orchard. Believes windbreaks are essential; uses maple. Prunes, to stimulate trunk and fruit growth. Fertilizes with wood ashes, and says they should be used on all soils that lack potash. Pastures his orchard in spring with calves and hogs, and believes it pays. Sprays April 1, April 30, and June 1, with London purple, copperas, Paris green, and Bordeaux mixture. Not fully successful, but believes he reduces the codling-moth. For borers he lixiviates the ground. This, he claims, kills by contact under the ground. Plow in fall in time to let the rains settle in, and too late to keep it from freezing; freeze them out. Sorts into three classes: Middling [fair], bad, and worse. Hand packed in barrels, stem down, best on top, and marked "First class." He sells at wholesale, sometimes in orchard. Feeds culls to stock. Has found Kansas City, Omaha and Denver to be the best markets. Dries apples on Fay drier, made in Cincinnati, for home use only, and not satisfactory. Stores apples for winter in bulk in cave, and finds Ben Davis the best keeper. For help he uses boys at fifty cents per day, and men at one dollar per day.
A. J. Saltzman, Burrton, Harvey county: I have lived in Kansas thirty-one years. Have an apple orchard of 500 trees from one to twelve inches in diameter. For commercial orchard I would prefer Early Harvest, Maiden's Blush, Ben Davis, Cooper's Early White, and Jonathan; and for family orchard Early Harvest, Lawver, Jonathan, and Winesap. Have tried and discarded Willow Twig and Large Romanite on account of blight, and the fruit rots and specks. I prefer hilltop, with sandy loam and clay subsoil, and a north or northwest aspect. Prefer two-year-old trees, with good, thrifty roots, planted thirty feet apart each way. I cultivate my orchard to corn, potatoes, Kafir-corn and cane for five or six years, with plow and cultivator, and cease cropping when the orchard begins to bear. I plant bearing orchard to rye, oats, and artichokes, and then turn in hogs. Windbreaks are essential; would makes them of evergreens or Russian mulberries, planted four feet apart. I prune with a saw, pruning-hook, knife, and sometimes an ax, to give proper shape to the tree, and to let in air and light; I think it pays. I do not thin the fruit on the trees, but think it should be done. I fertilize my orchard with barn-yard litter, and think it beneficial; I would advise its use on all soils. I pasture my orchard after five or six years with hogs, and think it advisable and that it pays. My trees are troubled with root aphis, but not bad, and my apples with codling-moth. I do not spray. I hand-pick my apples, in baskets, or in a sack over the shoulder, and put them in barrels, boxes, or wagon. I sort into two classes: first, sound, for market or home use; second, for vinegar. I sort them as I pick, and drop the vinegar ones on the ground, and gather afterwards. I pack my apples in bushel boxes (that is the best way) while picking. I sell apples in the orchard; also wholesale, retail, and peddle. I make second- and third-grade apples into vinegar, or feed them to hogs. My best market is at home. Have tried distant markets, and found it sometimes paid. I do not dry any, and am successful at storing apples in bulk in a cellar; sometimes I bury them; I find Winesap, Limber Twig and Little Romanite keep best. We have to repack stored apples before marketing, losing from ten to fifteen per cent. of them. I do not irrigate, but think it would pay. Prices have been from forty cents to one dollar per bushel; dried apples from five to six cents per pound.