William Young, Brantford, Washington county: Have lived in Kansas twenty-one years. Have 200 apple trees, five to twenty-five years planted, four to twelve inches in diameter. I prefer for commercial orchard Winesap, Ben Davis, and Rawle's Janet. I prefer bottom land, with black loam and clay subsoil. I prefer three-year-old trees, good, smooth bark, and three or four branches. Have tried root grafts and seedlings with good success. I cultivate in corn, using plow for thirteen years; plow toward the trees one year, then away the next. Windbreaks are essential, and I would make them of cottonwood, box-elder or catalpa planted in rows on the north side. Am not troubled with rabbits or borers. I prune with a saw and knife, to produce better fruit; I think it beneficial. I fertilize with stable litter and wood ashes; I would advise its use on all soils. I pasture my orchard with hogs; think it advisable, and that it pays. My trees are troubled some with insects; codling-moth troubles my apples. I pick my apples by hand into a basket, then sort and put in the cellar. I sort into two classes, good and bad; we sort as we pick them. I sell my apples at home and in town, sometimes in orchard; retail, wholesale, or peddle. Make cider for vinegar of culls. My best market is Clifton; never tried distant markets. Never dry any. I store some for winter market in thin layers on shelves, in cellar seven feet deep, and find the Winesap keeps best. Prevailing price has been eighty cents.
H. E. Penny, Hiawatha, Brown county: Have lived in Kansas twenty-eight years. Have 1800 apple trees—600 planted fifteen years, 1200 planted ten years. Grow nothing but Ben Davis. Planted two-year-old trees, twenty-four by thirty feet, on a southern slope. Cultivate in corn for ten years and then sow to clover. I prune only to keep the watersprouts from bothering the tree. I believe fertilizing pays, although I have not tried it. I never allow any stock but poultry in the orchard. I spray after the bloom has fallen, and ten days later, with Paris green, to destroy the codling-moth. We sort out only one grade, allowing the culls to rot. We pack in three-bushel barrels, and usually sell in the orchard at wholesale. Our best market is Minneapolis, Minn., but I have not made shipping pay. I have tried artificial cold storage; they did not keep satisfactorily, I do not know why. I had to repack, and lost over twenty per cent. Prices have varied from 75 cents to $1.50 per barrel. For help, I use boys at fifty cents to seventy-five cents per day.
J. D. Hazen, Leona, Doniphan county: Have been in Kansas forty years; have an apple orchard of 13,200 trees; 10,000 have been planted fourteen years, and 3200 for two years. I would plant nothing but Ben Davis for commercial purposes. For the family orchard I would add Winesap, Jonathan, and Rawle's Janet. Prefer rather high land, well underdrained, with a northeast slope. I plant good two-year-old trees, in rows two rods apart east and west, and the trees one rod apart in the row north and south. I grow corn or potatoes for six years, then seed down to clover. I cultivate the trees while young with a small one-horse plow. I think windbreaks essential on the south and west sides; Osage orange is good, set the same as for a fence, and allowed to grow tall. I wrap my trees against rabbits, and try all ways to destroy them. I prune with the saw to get the trees up so I can get around them, and believe it pays, or I would not do it. Have been at it fifteen years, and see no harm. Don't think it would pay to thin apples on the trees. I believe it is better to mix varieties in the orchard; I have 7000 Ben Davis and 300 Winesaps in one orchard, and where the Winesaps are mixed with the Davis the trees are always fuller. I believe fertilizing would be good, but my orchard is too large to practice it. I pasture with horses in the spring, and believe it does no harm, and that it pays.
Canker-worm is my worst insect pest, and I have been spraying for many years, using one pound of London purple to 160 gallons of water. I spray when the blossoms fall, using a big tank and a small engine to pump. I cannot say that I have reduced the codling-moth any by spraying. I cut borers out. I sort into two classes, No. 1's and No. 2's, bests and second bests; best ones go into firsts, and those that are not rotten in No. 2. I have a table, or what I call a culler; the apples are picked and put into these cullers; I have twelve men to each culler and a boss over them. They stand and cull the apples. I have the cullers numbered, so if any one puts up bad apples I can catch him. I use barrels for the No. 1's; fill and press so they will not shake. I put them up in good shape, and sell at wholesale to the first buyer that comes. I ship my culls and second-grade apples to western Kansas and to Nebraska in cars in bulk. I never send to commission men. I have never tried drying, or storing apples for winter. For family use I put away some in barrels, and keep the above varieties successfully. Prices, last year, two dollars per barrel; a year ago, one dollar per barrel; two years ago, $1.50 per barrel. I use any help I can get, paying seventy five cents per day and board.
J. B. Avery, Clifton, Washington county: Have lived in Kansas twenty-eight years; have an apple orchard of 1500 trees, from five to fourteen years planted, three to fifteen inches in diameter. For planting I prefer two-year-old whips. I cultivate my orchard to potatoes or any hoed crop, when it is first planted; keep this up as long as the roots and branches will admit. I have used a disc and common drag harrow for the last three years. I plant my bearing orchard to clover. I prune my trees with a pruning knife and saw when necessary. I fertilize my orchard with thoroughly rotted stable litter. I think it beneficial and would advise its use on all soils. I have pastured eight acres of my orchard with calves; have not seen any injury. I sort my apples into three classes—first, second, and culls. I sell my apples to neighbors, restaurants, stores, etc. The culls I dry, make cider, feed to pigs, and give away. Clifton is my best market; have never tried distant markets. I store some in boxes, barrels and sacks in a cellar.