N. Sanford, Oswego, Labette county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-seven years. Have an apple orchard of 150 trees, twenty-four years old, ten inches in diameter. For all purposes I prefer Red June, Jonathan, Grimes's Golden Pippin, Rome Beauty, and Winesap. Have tried and discarded Ben Davis, White Winter Pearmain, Red Winter Pearmain, and Missouri Pippin; they don't do well here. I prefer clay bottom land with north aspect. I prefer well-grown two-year-old trees, set a little deeper than nurserymen recommend. I cultivate my orchard to corn or potatoes four years, using a five-tooth cultivator, and cease cropping after six years. I plant nothing but raspberries and blackberries in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are not essential. For rabbits I wrap the young trees with cloth. I prune the tree while young to give shape and get rid of dead branches; I think it pays. I do not thin my apples while on the trees; it does not pay. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter and ashes; would advise their use on all soils. I pasture my orchard in early spring and during the fall and winter with horses and cattle; think it advisable, and that it pays. My trees are troubled with canker-worm, bud moth, root aphis, and twig-borer, and my apples with codling-moth, curculio, and gouger. I spray with a force-pump; use Paris green, London purple and Bordeaux mixture for canker-worms and all other pests. I pick my apples from ladders with care; sort into two classes—first, all large and sound; second, small and sound; pack them in eleven-peck barrels as we pick them; fill the barrels full with a little pressure; mark with variety and grade. I wholesale, retail and peddle my apples; I evaporate the second and third grades and culls. My best market is Colorado; I have tried distant markets and found they paid. I dry apples with a home-made drier, which is quite satisfactory; after they are dry we pack in fifty-pound boxes, but do not find a ready market; they pay some years if the quality is good. Am successful in storing apples in barrels in a stone cellar, and find Winesaps keep best. I have to repack stored apples, losing about one-sixth or one-eighth of them. Do not irrigate. Prices have been from fifty cents to one dollar per bushel; dried apples from five to nine cents, if fancy. I employ women at fifty cents per day for preparing the evaporated apples.
C. G. Wickersham, Parsons, Labette county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-six years. Have an apple orchard, the oldest of which are twenty-seven years. For all purposes I prefer Jonathan, Grimes's Golden Pippin, and Winesap. I prefer hilltop, with the very best of black soil, having a north or northwest slope. I prefer two- or three-year-old medium-sized trees, set in holes dug for them. I cultivate my orchard to potatoes, using a common cultivator, and cease cropping after ten or fifteen years; nothing should be planted in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of three to six rows of elms. We destroy all the rabbits we can. I prune the trees when first set out to shorten in the limbs; then keep it up every year; it pays big. I do not thin the fruit on the trees; the wind does it for me; it pays to not have the trees too full. Makes no material difference whether the trees are in block of one variety or mixed plantings. I fertilize my orchard with slightly rotted stable litter, and think it pays, and is beneficial. I would advise its use on all soils, but not as extensively on rich soils. I pasture my orchard with chickens only; they are a benefit and pay well. My apples are troubled with codling-moth, curculio, and bud moth. I spray with London purple, Paris green, and Bordeaux mixture. I pick my apples by hand, sort in from three to six grades, and put them on hay in the shade. Pack in one- and one-and-a-half-bushel packages. I wholesale, retail and peddle a very little. Give the culls to neighbors who have no apples. Have tried distant markets, but it did not pay. Home market is best. I do not dry any. I store some in a frost-proof house. Have to repack stored apples. I water my orchard frequently.
O. W. Heckethorn, McPherson, McPherson county: I have resided in Kansas twenty-four years; have an apple orchard of 350 trees; 180 of them are twelve years old; the balance are younger. For market I prefer Missouri Pippin and Maiden's Blush; for family use, Maiden's Blush. I prefer a sandy loam with an east or northeast aspect. I prefer two-year-old, low-headed trees, planted in rows thirty feet apart. I cultivate my orchard as long as the weeds grow, and plant a young orchard to corn, using a small cultivator and disc. Cease cropping after eight or nine years, and plant nothing in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of peach trees planted close together. I have pruned to shape trees, but do not prune at all now. I do not thin the fruit while on the trees. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter; I think it beneficial, and would advise its use on all soils. I do not pasture my orchard. My trees are troubled with tent-caterpillar, and my apples with curculio.
A. B. Mann, Toronto, Woodson county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-eight years. Have an apple orchard of fifty trees, twenty years old, twelve inches in diameter. For all purposes I prefer Ben Davis, Winesap, Jonathan, and Missouri Pippin. My trees are planted on a hilltop, with north slope, having a black limestone soil. I prefer two-year-old trees, set in rows twenty feet apart. I cultivate my orchard to sweet corn until four years old, using a plow and harrow, then cease cropping; put clover in a bearing orchard. We make windbreaks of Osage orange on the north side of the orchard. For rabbits I use lath, and dig borers out. I prune with a chisel and mallet; think it pays. I do not thin the fruit while on the trees. I do not mix my trees when planting. I fertilize my orchard between the rows with stable litter; would not advise its use on all soils. I have pastured my orchard with hogs, but do not think it advisable, as it does not pay. My trees are troubled with tent-caterpillar and flathead borer, and my apples with codling-moth. I do not spray; my neighbors do, without success. I hand-pick my apples.
D. W. Cozad, La Cygne, Linn county: I have resided in the state twenty-five years. For market I prefer Ben Davis, Jonathan, Willow Twig, and Missouri Pippin, and for family orchard, Early Harvest, Maiden's Blush, Winesap, Rawle's Janet, and Huntsman's Favorite. Have tried and discarded Lawver, Yellow Bellflower, Gilpin, and Cooper's Early White, on account of shy bearing, poor quality, and small size. I would choose hill for some and valley land for others, according to variety planted; would prefer southeast aspect with limestone soil and porous subsoil. I prefer one-year-old trees. I cultivate my orchard to corn and potatoes, using a surface cultivator and harrow; cease cropping at bearing age and sow to clover. Windbreaks are essential. I would make them of double rows of evergreens on the north and west. Protect from rabbits and borers by "eternal vigilance." I prune with a saw and knife for symmetry, air, and light, and think it pays. I thin the fruit while on the trees, at different times; it pays. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter and clover; would advise its use on all soils. I pasture my orchard with hogs; think it advisable, and that it pays. My trees are troubled with canker-worm, tent-caterpillar, root aphis, flathead borer, and woolly aphis; my apples with codling-moth and curculio. I pick my apples by hand; sort into three classes, sound and large, sound and small, and culls. I sell apples in the orchard, wholesale, retail, and peddle. Sell my best apples from the cellar, also second grade. Of the culls we make cider and feed to the hogs. My best market is at home. I do not dry any. I am successful in storing apples in barrels in a cellar and a cave; I find the Gilpin, McAfee, Rawle's Janet and Willow Twig keep best. I have to repack stored apples before marketing, losing about one-twentieth of them. I do not irrigate. Prices have been: Summer, twenty-five to thirty cents; fall, forty to fifty cents; winter sixty to eighty cents per bushel. I employ men at ten cents an hour.