M. Sanders, Broughton, Clay county: I have lived in Kansas thirty-eight years. Have an apple orchard of 400 trees, three to ten inches in diameter. For market I prefer Ben Davis, Winesap, Grimes's Golden Pippin, and Red Astrachan; and for family orchard Ben Davis, Winesap, and Missouri Pippin. I prefer bottom land having a sandy subsoil, and a southeast slope. I prefer two-year-old, low-headed trees. In the spring I open deep furrows both ways with a plow, and plant the trees at the cross, fill the hole with good soil. I cultivate my orchard for six or eight years, using a common plow till four years old, then use a shovel plow, and plant early corn, potatoes, etc., in the young orchard; cease cropping after six or eight years; plant nothing in a bearing orchard, but keep up shallow cultivating with a disc or plow. Windbreaks are essential; I would make them of three rows of box-elder or Osage orange. I prune with a small saw or knife, to thin the top. I fertilize my orchard with yard litter and ashes, scattering it all over the ground; would advise it on all soils. I have pastured my orchard with hogs, but have quit it. I now pasture with cows; I tie their heads down, but do not think it advisable; it does not pay. My trees are troubled with tent-caterpillar, bud moth, and twig-borers, and my apples with codling-moth. I do not spray. I pick my apples by hand in a basket, and sort into two classes. Sell my apples to storekeepers and Indians; make cider and vinegar, and give away the second and third grades; feed the culls to the hogs and cattle. My best market is at home; never tried distant markets. Don't dry any. I have stored apples in boxes and barrels, and find Ben Davis and Winesap keep best. I have to repack stored apples before marketing, losing one-third to one-half of them. Do not irrigate. Prices have been from twenty cents to one dollar per bushel.
John Reed, Oak Hill, Clay county: I have resided in the state twenty years; have an apple orchard of 100 trees six years old. For market I prefer Ben Davis and Winesap; and for family orchard add Jonathan and a few early varieties. I prefer low land with a porous subsoil, and a northeast slope. I prefer two-year-old trees with branches one foot from the ground. When setting I dig big holes and loosen up the subsoil about a foot. I find this gives the best satisfaction. I have always cultivated my orchard, and intend to do so three or four years longer; I plow twice a year—in spring, and the middle of June; I keep the ground well stirred. I planted corn the first three years, listed it in, but would not recommend it, as the trees will do better if the land is plowed. Windbreaks are essential on the south and west sides of the orchard; would make them of two rows of cottonwood trees planted zigzag with one another. For rabbits I wrap with corn-stalks. I dig borers out and wash the trees with lye water twice a year for the first three years; it keeps the tree nice and clean and the borers out. I prune my trees, by cutting out the limbs that cross, and to keep the trees from leaning to the north, and it pays. I fertilize my orchard with decayed corn-cobs. I think it beneficial, and would advise it on all soils, as I think too much straw mulching is an injury to the trees when they get old. I do not pasture my orchard; it does not pay. My trees were troubled with canker-worms last spring. I do not spray. My best market is in the neighborhood. Prices last fall were fifty to sixty cents per bushel.
Geo. R. Barnes, Chapman, Dickinson county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-seven years; have an apple orchard of six acres old enough to be at their best. For market I prefer Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Jonathan, and Winesap, and for family use Early Harvest, Red June, Maiden's Blush, and Missouri Pippin. I prefer a low bottom with a black loam, and a north slope. I prefer two-year-old, well-balanced trees, set in holes large enough to receive them, twenty-four by twenty-four feet. I cultivate my young orchard to corn and potatoes, using a disc harrow, and cease cropping when they begin to bear. I plant nothing in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks would be beneficial on the south to protect the orchard from the hot south winds. I would make it of walnut trees, because they sap the ground the least. To protect them from the borers, I leave the branches low down, and when we see any sawdust I dig him out with a knife. I prune very little with knife and saw to balance the trees. I do not thin the fruit on the trees. Some say if you expect to get a load of apples from a tree you must give it a load of manure every time it bears, and I think this is right, but don't put it too close to the tree. I pasture my orchard with nothing but poultry; it is not advisable; it makes the ground too hard. Codling-moth troubles my apples very much. I do not spray. I sell apples in the orchard; peddle the best ones; make cider and vinegar of the culls. Don't dry any for market—just enough for family use. Prices have been from forty to seventy-five cents per bushel.
A. M. Engle, Moonlight, Dickinson county: I have lived in Kansas nineteen years. Have an orchard of 600 apple trees ten to eighteen years old. For commercial orchard I prefer Ben Davis, Rawle's Janet, Missouri Pippin, and Winesap. I prefer bottom or low land with a dark loam, and a north or northeast aspect. I prefer stout, low-headed, two-year-old trees, planted sixteen or eighteen feet east and west and thirty or thirty-two feet north and south. I think an orchard ought to have as much cultivation as a corn-field. I grow early corn in my young orchard, using an Acme and cutaway harrow, and cultivate as for corn. I cease cropping when fairly bearing. Plant nothing in a bearing orchard unless for fertilizing, but keep cultivating. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of evergreen, box-elder, Osage orange, maples, cottonwood, etc. For rabbits I rub the trees with axle grease, or tar and fish oil, or old lard, mixed; apply with a cloth. For borers I wash with lye or strong soap-suds. I prune my trees severely when planting, and watch them for several years, and cut out all branches that rub or crowd, and cut out buds so that the tree will not have too many limbs for foundation; I think it pays. I thin the fruit while on the trees; begin early when the trees are full, and continue all through the season, whenever I see imperfect fruit; think it pays big. My trees are mixed plantings. I fertilize my orchard with well-rotted stable litter and wood ashes; I would especially advise the use of wood ashes. I pasture my orchard very little; would put hogs in if the limbs were not too low and full of apples; I think it would pay. My trees are troubled with flathead borer and canker-worm, and my apples with codling-moth. I intend spraying this year with Paris green and London purple for the worms, and Bordeaux mixture for blight and fungous diseases, as soon as the blossoms fall.
In picking I use foot ladders and one-half-bushel baskets, unless the variety is very hard; then I use sacks. Sort into three classes. Pack in barrels shaken and pressed down, then headed, and marked with name of variety, and haul to shipping point on wagon. Sell some apples in the orchard; let the grocer have the best to sell on commission; sell second and third grades the best way I can; make cider of culls. My best market is at Abilene; never tried distant markets. Dry only for home use. Am successful in storing apples in barrels and tight boxes, in a cave; find Winesap and Rawle's Janet keep well till June. Put my apples in the cave when the weather is cold, and keep it open cold nights, but am careful to not let it freeze. Think it best to repack stored apples when kept late. If they are well managed you will not lose five per cent., probably not two per cent. Do not irrigate, but would if I had water facilities. Prices last fall were from forty to fifty cents per bushel in the orchard, but the apples I kept over netted me $1.25 to $1.35 per bushel. I employ men and women; think women best and cheapest for sorting. Pay fifty, sixty and seventy-five cents per day.
I do not consider myself a successful horticulturist, but believe, if I had known as much about the nature or necessity of the orchard when we came to Kansas nineteen years ago as I do now, I could have made a success of it, even here in central Kansas. I would especially say that I do not believe there can be success with an orchard exposed on upland. There might possibly be some success as a family orchard, with a good windbreak planted around it, especially on the south side, but I would not take ten, twenty or thirty acres of exposed upland, with apple trees enough to plant it, as a gift, if I must plant and tend it, for the produce of it for ten or more years. I do not know of a single such orchard that is worth having. I would advise selecting low ground, sloping north and east, with an elevation or good timber protection on south and west; land inclining to bottom or good "draw." My belief is that, with a good selection of varieties, and the proper kind of land and location, apple-raising could be made quite profitable here. Keeping the apples in cellars is a mistake; a good cave kept as cold as possible without freezing is far better. I think apples should be placed on the north side of some shed or building before being put in the cave, and kept cool, and put into cave before freezing. Last fall I sold my choice apples at the orchard at from forty to fifty cents per bushel. I kept some in barrels in the cave. They were in good demand later. About the holidays I got $1.25, and since then $1.35. I had a contract with a grocer to sell them for fifteen per cent., and they netted me as above. I have some in very fine condition in my cave yet [April 27]. I still open the cave on cold nights.