F. S. Hall, Fulton, Bourbon county: Has lived in Kansas fourteen years. Have 10,000 apple trees from two to eight years old. For commercial purposes the Ben Davis and Arkansas Black are doing best. Will not plant any more Missouri Pippins. My orchard is on a hill, with northeast slope, black soil, set thirty-three feet east and west and sixteen feet north and south. Set one- and two-year-old well-branched trees. Cultivate entirely with a disc, and allow nothing to grow within six feet of the trees. Grow only clover, and expect to grow only clover in my orchard. Think an Osage hedge a good windbreak. Use tar paper and traps against rabbits. Prune nothing above twenty inches from the ground. Never thinned apples on trees. Fertilize with ashes and all the manure I can get, and turn under clover. Think such fertilizers beneficial for apples on all soils. Opposed to pasturing an orchard. Not much troubled with insects. Spray before and after blooming, first with Bordeaux mixture, then sulphate of copper and either Paris green or London purple. Think I have reduced the codling-moth by this method. Keep down borers by cultivation and a wash of lime, concentrated lye, and carbolic acid.
R. N. Mark, Strawn, Coffey county: Have lived in Kansas thirty years. Have an orchard of twelve acres; trees twelve years old. For commercial purposes I prefer Winesap and Ben Davis. Timber bottom is best. I cultivate my orchard to corn and potatoes, and cease cropping when ten or twelve years old; plant potatoes in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are essential on the south; would make them of forest-trees. To protect from rabbits I wrap young trees, or kill rabbits, cut open, and rub thoroughly on the tree. I prune my trees to give proper shape, and think it beneficial, especially on poor land, as it makes the trees more productive. Do not thin fruit on the trees. I pasture my orchard carefully with hogs and calves at any time when it is not wet. Trees are troubled with canker-worm. I spray early and often with London purple. I pick my apples in sacks from ladders. The shipper [buyer] sorts from barrels in orchard. I sell my first grade in the orchard; also second- and third-grade apples in the orchard. We sell the culls. Do not dry any; does not pay. I store very few. Average price of apples is fifty cents per bushel.
W. M. French, Chicopee, Crawford county: I have resided in the state eighteen years. Have an apple orchard of 200 trees twelve years old, averaging six inches in diameter. For market I prefer Ben Davis, Winesap, Missouri Pippin, Willow Twig, and Jonathan; and for family orchard would add Early Harvest, Maiden's Blush, and Rambo. Have tried and discarded Limber Twig; it does not mature. I prefer bottom with an eastern or northern slope, having a good deep soil with a clay subsoil. I prefer three-year-old, stocky trees, set in holes dug 3×3 feet and 21/2 feet deep, filled with surface soil. I cultivate my orchard to corn as long as I can without injuring the trees, and use a plow; avoid ridging too much. I cease cropping after nine to twelve years. I sow the bearing orchard to millet or something to be mowed. Windbreaks are not essential, but think they would be beneficial; would make them of catalpa or maples, set in two or three rows on north, south and west sides. I prune my trees with a saw to keep the top from getting too heavy; I think it beneficial, and that it pays. Shall not thin my fruit this year. I can see no difference whether trees are in blocks of one kind or mixed. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter, putting it in trenches between the trees; I avoid putting it around them. I think it has proven beneficial, and would advise its use on all soils, unless very rich and the tree growth very strong. I pasture my orchard a little with calves, but do not think it advisable. My trees are troubled with tent-caterpillar. I do not spray. I hand-pick in a basket from a step-ladder. I sort into two classes, and wholesale, retail, and peddle. The home market takes all my best apples; the culls are fed to hogs and made into cider. Never have tried distant markets. Do not dry any. Am successful at storing apples in bulk in a cellar; find Ben Davis, Winesap, Willow Twig and Rawle's Janet keep best. I do not irrigate. Prices have been from fifty cents to one dollar per bushel.
J. C. Ross, Havana, Montgomery county: Have lived in Kansas twenty-seven years; have an orchard of 100 apple trees twenty-three years old. I prefer for all purposes Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, and Winesap. Have tried and discarded Rawle's Janet and Romanite. I prefer low land at foot of hills, with deep loam subsoil and a medium slope. I set my trees twenty feet apart. I cultivate in oats and corn up to bearing with common twelve-inch stirring plow. Windbreaks are essential on north; would make them of Osage orange planted in rows. Rabbits are hard to contend with; for borers I use a solution of slaked lime. I prune with a saw; do not think it very beneficial, as the rain gets in, and the wood decays. I never thin apples. My trees are in mixed varieties. I mulch my trees with straw, and think it beneficial. I pasture with calves and hogs; do not think it advisable; it does not pay. Am somewhat troubled with insects; I spray with a solution of coal-oil, using a small pump; think I have reduced the codling-moth. For borers I dissolve lime to a paste in water, and apply to the roots with a scrub broom. I pick my fruit from ladders. I sort into three classes: first, second, and third. I use common barrels to pack the fruit in; mark, and send by freight to near-by markets. I wholesale sometimes, and sometimes sell in orchard; market my best apples at near-by towns; I make cider and vinegar of culls. I dry some fruit; use a large pan filled with hot water; then put in sacks and boxes. I find a ready market; think it pays. I store some apples in a cellar in large, open boxes, and in bulk. Some rot; those that keep best are Winesap, Rawle's Janet, and Romanite. We have to sort stored apples before marketing them; we lose from one-fourth to one-third of them. I do not irrigate. Prices have been from fifty cents to one dollar per bushel. I use any kind of help I can get, and pay seventy-five cents per day.
J. K. P. House, Cloverdale, Chautauqua county. I have lived in Kansas twenty-seven years, and have 250 large trees, planted twenty-six years. I prefer for commercial orchard Ben Davis, and for family orchard Dominie, Early Harvest, Rhode Island Greening, and Grimes's Golden Pippin. I prefer bottom land, with a black loam and clay subsoil, with north slope. I plant two-year-old, medium-top trees, in well-cultivated ground, and mix the top soil with the roots. I have tried root grafts, but not satisfactory. I cultivate shallow every year, using the cultivator after the tree is grown. I grow oats in a young orchard, but nothing in a bearing orchard, and cease cropping when about eight years old. Windbreaks are essential on high ground. I would make them of walnut trees planted in rows. I never thinned the fruit. My trees are in mixed plantings, and prove satisfactory. I do not fertilize, and would only advise it on high land. I pasture my orchard with hogs, and think it advisable. My trees are troubled with tent-caterpillar, bagworm and roundhead borer. I pick in a sack swung around the neck. I sell fruit in the orchard, and make cider of the culls. My best market is at home; but I have shipped to distant markets. It paid in an early day. I have dried some apples in the sun, then heat and pack in barrels, and find a ready market for them, but it does not pay. I store some fruit for home use, and find that Winesap and White Winter Pearmain keep best. I have never tried artificial cold storage. I do not irrigate. Prices have been from $1 to $1.50 per bushel, and for dried fruit six to eight and one-third cents per pound.