William Burden, Leeds, Chautauqua county: Have been in Kansas twenty-one years. Have 400 apple trees from eight to twenty years old. I prefer for commercial orchards Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, and Winesap, and for family orchard Early Harvest, Maiden's Blush, and Jonathan. Have tried and discarded Willow Twig, Rawle's Janet, and Russet. I prefer limestone bottom land, with north slope. I plant twenty-eight by thirty feet, using two-year-old trees. I cultivate eight years with plow and cultivator. I grow corn among young trees, clover in a bearing orchard, and cease cropping after eight years. Need no windbreaks. Wrap trees with corn-stalks to keep off rabbits. I prune to keep down watersprouts and limbs from rubbing; I think it beneficial. Never thin the fruit on the trees. Have not tried mixed plantings of trees. I do not fertilize. I pasture my orchard with horses, but do not think it advisable. My trees are troubled with root aphis, roundhead borer and leaf-roller. Do not spray. I pick fruit by hand. I sell mostly to farmers living farther west; sometimes sell in the orchard and sometimes retail. Make vinegar of culls. Never tried distant markets; never dry any. Store some apples in cave in boxes; am successful; find that Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin and Winesap keep best. Do not irrigate. Prevailing price, thirty cents per bushel; five cents per pound for dried apples.
Ebert Simon, Welda, Anderson county: Have lived in Kansas thirty-one years; have 300 apple trees, fifteen inches in diameter, twenty years old. I prefer for commercial orchard Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Winesap, and Gano; and for family orchard Winesap, Missouri Pippin, and Jonathan. I prefer hilltop, with black loam and porous subsoil, with north slope. I plant three-year-old whole-root grafts. I cultivate in corn for five years with one-horse cultivator; seed a bearing orchard to clover. Windbreaks are essential on the south. I prune with the saw to let the sun in, and think it beneficial. Never have thinned apples. I sometimes use stable litter as a fertilizer, but would not advise its use on all soils. Sometimes I pasture my orchard with hogs and horses, and think it advisable. I hand-pick my apples. I sell in the orchard, peddle the second and third grades, make vinegar of culls, and feed some to hogs; never tried distant markets. Never dry any. Prices have been from $1 to $1.50 per barrel.
A SUMMARY OF THE FOREGOING DISTRICT REPORTS.
Ben Davis is the leading market apple, followed closely by Missouri Pippin. These two lead all others, and are followed by Winesap and Jonathan. Rawle's Janet, York Imperial, Huntsman's Favorite, Grimes's Golden Pippin and Maiden's Blush are also favorites. We find the Yellow Bellflower, Newtown Pippin, Lawver and a few others are condemned all over the state.
In the eastern third of the state hilltop or slope is preferred to bottom land, but in the central and western portions bottom land is preferred. The reason for this is obvious. Any good soil is satisfactory, if subsoil is porous.
The favorite distance seems to be thirty-two feet east and west and sixteen to twenty feet north and south, some putting peach or early-bearing apples between, the wide way, to be cut out when they crowd. This undoubtedly brings the quickest returns, but many believe it robs the permanent trees of their future sustenance.
Twenty-four prefer one-year-old trees; 7 one to two years old; 153 two-year-old; 10 two- to three-year-old; 21 three-year-old; 3 want four-year-old, and 59 give no age. It is only a matter of cost and convenience. A one-year-old tree costs less and allows the would-be orchardist to set more trees for a given amount of cash. The one- and two-year-old trees require the removal of less earth, and are more readily handled and planted. There is no reason why an apple tree three inches in diameter cannot be transplanted as easily as an elm or maple. A man is willing to set a few large shade-trees at a cost of one dollar to five dollars per tree, but cannot feel that it is economy to set orchard trees at as great individual expense.