Part 8

Much has been said as to the proper location for an orchard--bottom land or hilltop, level ground or sloping. The fact is, with careful attention to the trees, any good, rich soil will answer. Anything that can in a measure ward off the evil effects of the fierce summer gales and the droughts of July, August and September will tend to minimize the losses. Were it possible for me to choose a piece of land exactly to my notions, I should select a river-bottom farm in the neck of some large "horseshoe," being where it would be possible for the trees to reach down their roots and draw moisture during the dry season by natural subirrigation. Marketing the crop is the last but not the least work of the apple-grower. In fact, when the orchard is well established, this is about the only work connected with the orchard. And in that respect the orchard has a decided advantage over other farm crops, that require yearly preparation of the soil, sowing, harrowing, cultivating, etc., as well as the harvesting of the crop. The early summer apples can usually be sold on the local market at fair prices; the later summer and fall can be shipped, and are usually in fair demand by Western buyers. Ship only your best; it will hardly pay to send any other grade. There is usually a good demand at this point for winter varieties by farmers from the West, who come in and buy their winter supply by the wagon-load. Occasionally, if the Eastern crop is short, buyers from Chicago will be on the ground. We do not believe in holding apples long in the hope of obtaining higher prices. Cold storage will solve this difficulty of the orchardist; we hope it will prove a success.

The most convenient thing to gather apples in from a tree or ladder that we have tried is a picking sack--a grain sack with a heavy wire or a stiff leather strap fastened around the mouth, and a broad strap connecting the top with the bottom of the sack. This can be carried over the shoulder with considerable comfort. There are always more or less inferior and unmarketable apples left after the best have been disposed of, and what to do with them is a question that confronts every great apple grower. For the last fourteen years we have been working this grade into vinegar. We found there was considerable to learn and care exercised to avoid losses. I will mention a few important things that are necessary to produce a good article of cider vinegar. First obtain good, iron-bound oak barrels--vinegar or whisky barrels preferred. Never use soft wood barrels of any kind. Paint them well with ocher before using; they will last longer. After filling with cider, keep in a shed until cool weather; then draw off and run into barrels in the cellar for winter, although, if well protected and not too full, they could remain out in the shed over winter. In the spring draw off again and run into other barrels; you will, in this, hasten the fermentation of vinegar and obtain an article free from sediment. It requires from one to two years for vinegar to cease working. Sell it then, and not before. Though it may be very strong, it will not keep pickles unless the process is complete. Much of the vinegar sold on the markets as apple vinegar is made from corn, and now that corn has risen in price it is possible that the price of this kind of vinegar may rise also. It has not the quality or flavor of cider vinegar, but it can be manufactured so cheaply that it has hurt the market for a better article.

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Maj. FRANK HOLSINGER, Rosedale, Wyandotte county: Has resided in Kansas since March 7, 1867--thirty years; has 1500 apple trees from one to twenty-nine years planted, "big as a barn." Prefers Gano, Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin and York Imperial for commercial purposes, and Early Harvest, Cooper's Early White, Maiden's Blush and Jonathan added for family use. Says life is too short to tell how many varieties he has tried and discarded. Prefers a loose soil, and used to think hilltop best, but says there is no choice between bottom and hilltop, and that any particular slope is a delusion, as all are equal. Plants medium two-year-old trees, "usually roots downward--tops up." Cultivates with double-shovel plow and hoe up to seven years, planting with corn or potatoes. Then grows clover and weeds, "weeds mostly," ceasing to cultivate when it becomes inconvenient. Says windbreaks are unnecessary, and should only be made of the sun--"let her shine"--and does not understand how a rabbit can do a _mechanical_ job of gnawing. Does not prune; he "trains"; leaves the pruning tools in the tool-house, and says it pays. Would thin apples on trees if labor did not come so high. His experience as to difference in fruitfulness between planting of one or of several kinds [together] is unsatisfactory. Believes fertilizers are good for trees if spread out, never if piled around the tree; would surely advise its use on all orchards. Would never allow an orchard pastured by any kind of live stock.

Has a large list of insects to contend against, but is not bothered with leaf eaters, hence does not spray, and does not believe any one has lessened the codling-moth by spraying. Uses common sense on borers, and digs them out. He first mounds the tree, and thereby gets what larvae there may be deposited high up in the collar, few remain; these I dig out, which is all "simple enough." He describes gathering apples thus: "Pick 'em by hand; surround the apple with your fingers, break back gently, which loosens the stem, then lay gently in the basket. It is very simple, the process." Makes two classes, one the best, the other of seconds. In the first we put all that seem perfect; in the second, all others that are not culls. Packs in barrels, well shaken down and pressed; marks with name of variety, and always rolls [?] them to market. Sells the best any way possible, peddles seconds, and lets the culls rot. His best market is Kansas City--three miles. Never dries any. Stores for winter in various ways. Has had varying success, and believes loss in cold store was owing to varying temperature and lack of proper care. Does not irrigate, but trusts in the Lord. Prices range from six dollars to ten dollars per barrel. For help he uses "men and mules," and pays as "little as possible, believing that is often too much."

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JOHN E. SAMPLE, Beman, Morris county: Have been in Kansas twenty years; have 1000 trees planted twelve years, of Ben Davis, Rawle's Janet, Missouri Pippin, and Winesap; also Red and Sweet June, Early Harvest, and Maiden's Blush. Have discarded the Twenty-ounce Pippin as no good here. I have a deep, black loam with a clay subsoil, on upland, with southeast slope. I plant two-year-old trees a little deeper than they grow in the nursery, in rows thirty feet apart, and thirty feet in the rows, alternating the trees. I cultivate to corn and potatoes for about eight years, and then sow to red clover. I believe windbreaks beneficial, and would make them of red cedar or Russian apricots planted on the west, south and east sides, thirty feet from the orchard. I feed the rabbits corn and clover; have no trouble with borers. I prune heavily, to make the apples large and keep down too much wood growth. I fertilize my trees with timber dirt, and think it pays. I believe it pays and is advisable to pasture orchards with hogs. I pick by hand, and sort into three classes: large, medium, small and blemished. Have not dried any. Store in the cellar, in crates two feet long, ten inches wide, and eight inches deep. Have sold at fifty to eighty cents per bushel.

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E. K. WOLVERTON, Barnes, Washington county: I have resided in Kansas twenty-eight years; have an apple orchard of 18,500 trees from five to twenty-seven years old. For market I prefer Missouri Pippin and Ben Davis, and for family orchard would add Duchess of Oldenburg. Have tried and discarded Winesap and Rawle's Janet on account of shy bearing and poor keeping quality. I prefer a rich bottom with a porous subsoil, an east and north slope. I prefer good, thrifty, two-year-old trees. I plant by wire after the principle of check-row corn-planting; make the links twenty feet long, tie a white cloth in each link coupling, make the line long enough to plant ten trees (eleven links in length), stretch the chain east and west, say on north side of plat intended for planting; stick a stake at every tag. Draw another line ten trees south of it, and stick a stake at every tag, and so on to the south side of the plat. Then draw the line from the northeast stake to the east stake of the second row, the one due south, having the north tag at the stake. Then plant at every tag, placing the tree on east side of wire. When the row is planted move the wire west to the next stake, and so on till you reach the west side. The ground should first be prepared by plowing as for corn; float off [?] every evening all that you have plowed that day, which leaves the ground in the best condition.

I cultivate my orchard to corn for six to eight years. I plant twenty feet each way, and take an oak plant sixteen feet long, and place one section of a disc at each end of it, making it cut sixteen feet wide from outside to outside, and running within two feet of the trees at either end, leaving a space eight feet wide in the middle. Run another disc on that ground with another team and you have the space between the rows all clean of weeds if ground is in good condition when work is done. Cultivate both ways as often as necessary. I grow no crop in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are not essential. For rabbits I tie coarse grass around the trees with label wire, and leave it on two years. I also use traps. I do not prune my trees; it is too injurious to the trees. I do not thin my apples while on the trees; it is too expensive. My trees are planted in blocks. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter; think it beneficial and would advise its use on all soils. I do not pasture my orchard. My apples are troubled with worms. I spray the first of May with London purple for canker and apple worms.

I pick in baskets and sacks. Sort into two classes: marketable and culls, using a sorting table. Sell my apples in the orchard to wagons from the West. I evaporate the second- and third-grade apples when the crop is large; make the culls into cider and vinegar. I tried distant markets for two years and found they paid. When apples are abundant we dry for market; use the same kind of driers as are used at Fairmount; sell them in sacks to the stores, and find a ready market for them; but it does not always pay. I do not store any for winter market if I can sell them in the fall. I do not irrigate. Prices have been in 1896, twenty-five cents per bushel; 1897, forty cents per bushel.

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J. A. HEWITT, Hiawatha, Brown county: I have lived in Kansas thirty years, and have an orchard of 900 trees twenty-six years old. For commercial purposes I prefer the Ben Davis, Winesap, and Jonathan; and for family use would add Early Harvest, Maiden's Blush, and Grimes's Golden. Have tried and discarded some; very few varieties pay. I prefer high prairie. Have never grown any seedlings. I cultivate my orchard by planting to corn--raising no small grain--for a few years, then use the disc and harrow as long as the orchard lasts. I plant nothing in the bearing orchard, and cease cropping about eight years after setting. Windbreaks are essential to a growing orchard. I prune my trees a little every year to keep them in shape, and to let the sun in; I think it beneficial, and that it pays. Do not thin the fruit while on the trees, but think it would save time and pay well. I can see no difference whether trees are in blocks [of one kind] or mixed plantings. I do not fertilize my orchard, but am sure it would be beneficial, judging by some that have fertilized; I would advise it on all soils. No! no! no! no! I do not pasture my orchard; do not think it advisable; it does not pay. My apples are troubled with codling-moth. I do not spray. I sell my apples in the orchard at wholesale, yet sometimes retail them. I let my neighbors pick up the culls at ten cents per bushel. My best market is at home. I store apples successfully in bushel crates. I find the Winesap, Rawle's Janet, Ben Davis and Little Romanite keep best. I have to repack stored apples before marketing, losing about two per cent.

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JAMES DUNLAP, Detroit, Dickinson county: Has lived in Kansas since October, 1871. Has an orchard of 1200 apple trees, 300 planted sixteen years, 700 planted eleven years, 200 planted six years. Considers Missouri Pippin, Winesap, Ben Davis and Jonathan best for market, and for family would add Red June, Early Harvest, Mammoth Black Twig, and Cooper's Early White. Have tried and discarded Yellow Transparent, Rambo, Fameuse, and others. Prefers bottom and eastern slope, sandy loam, with clay subsoil. Plants thrifty one-year-old trees in holes large enough to spread the roots out well, leaning the young trees slightly to the southwest. Cultivates both ways as close to the trees as possible, usually planting to corn until the orchard is about twelve years old; then pastures to calves in fore part of season, mowing off the grass and weeds later. Believes windbreaks very essential on north, west and south sides; uses Osage orange hedge and two rows of forest-trees, planting them seven feet apart and seven feet away from the apple trees, when orchard is started.

For protection from rabbits he uses a wash of lye and soft soap on the tree. In pruning he believes it pays to cut out sap sprouts, and balance up the tree. He fertilizes by placing stable litter around the trees in winter, and spreading it in the spring, and says it pays. Says it certainly pays and does no harm to pasture the old orchards with calves. He is troubled with canker-worm, flathead borer, tarnish plant-bug, fall web-worm, and leaf-crumpler, also with codling-moth. He sometimes sprays for codling-moth and canker-worm, and thinks he has reduced both of them materially. Cuts out borers and washes the tree with lye. Has tried kerosene oil on borers and says it did not seem to injure the trees. He picks in baskets, dumps in piles in the orchard, and covers with coarse hay. Sorts into two classes--sellers and cider apples. Uses barrels as a package. Makes cider vinegar and hog feed of culls, and sells his good apples in various ways; has sold in orchard. His best markets are the surrounding towns and the neighboring farmers. Never dries any, and only stores enough for winter use of family. Price in 1896 was seventy-five cents for best, fifty cents for seconds. Hires no help.

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ROBERT MONTGOMERY, Troy, Doniphan county: Came to Kansas in 1857; served three years in the United States army, and have been here ever since. I have 4000 apple trees that have been set from twenty to thirty years. My market varieties are Ben Davis, Jonathan, and Missouri Pippin. For family use I added Yellow Transparent, Red June, Chenango Strawberry, White Winter Pearmain, Rawle's Janet, and Nelson's Sweet. I have discarded the Baldwin, Spitzenberg, Northern Spy, Early Harvest, and Early Pennock. Bottom land is not good; hills and hollows are best, with north or east slope; what we call mulatto soil is best. I prefer thrifty two- or three-year-old trees with low tops. Half of my trees are planted thirty feet each way. I now plant in rows two rods apart north and south and one rod apart in the row. I raise corn and potatoes among my trees for five or seven years, cultivating with the plow and the hoe; afterward I seed to clover; a disc can be used to good advantage every year; I keep the orchard in clover. Windbreaks are beneficial on high land, made of cottonwood, or better of cedar or Norway spruce, planted on the south side when you plant the orchard. I protect from rabbits with wooden protectors, leaving them on the year round. I cut the borers out with a knife, also use a wire. I shape the head of young trees by cutting out all the watersprouts with pruning shears and saw; old trees must be pruned or the apples will be small.

Barn-yard litter is beneficial on thin land, not necessary on rich land, but ashes are good on any soil. I pasture my orchard in summer with young horses and hogs. I think it advisable, as the hogs eat the apples that drop and destroy the worms. I have never sprayed. I pick in half-bushel baskets, and sacks with an iron hoop in the mouth; pour them in barrels and haul them to the barn, except those we wish to ship at once, which we sort in the orchard. I make two classes--good, sound, merchantable apples, and seconds. I have a culler that holds one barrel. I sort into a barrel, throwing the culls into another barrel, and I afterward sort the culls, for seconds; I pack in eleven-peck barrels, full and pressed solid, marked with the name of the variety written on the barrel. I sell the best at wholesale in barrels, the second grade by car-loads in bulk; the culls I give away, feed to hogs and cows, and make into cider. My best market is East and North. Have never shipped more than 500 or 600 miles away, and it paid. Have never dried any, and only store in barrels in my barn until I get a sale for them, never later than December. Price in the orchards in 1896 was seventy-five cents per barrel; in 1897, one dollar and a half. I use men for picking, at one dollar per day and their dinner.

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F. W. DIXON, Holton, Jackson county: Has been in Kansas twenty-seven years; has an apple orchard of 6000 trees, set from three to twenty-five years. Grows and recommends for commercial orchard: Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Jonathan, Winesap, and Gano. For family orchard: Winesap, Ben Davis, Jonathan, Grimes's Golden Pippin, Maiden's Blush, and Rawle's Janet. Has tried and discarded Yellow Transparent, Early Harvest, Red June, Wagener, Willow Twig, Dominie, Roman Stem, Seek-no-further, Porter, Pound Sweet, Nyack Pippin, and Minkler, because they did not pay; some blighted and failed to bear. Prefer timber soil, or sandy loam with open clay subsoil; bottom land is good if it has not a hard-pan subsoil. Apples will not succeed well planted on ordinary sod, with impervious subsoil. Plant thrifty two-year-old trees, from four to six feet high, well branched. Cultivate as long as the tree lives; use turning plow in spring, and follow with harrow every week during summer until orchard comes into bearing; then get some tool that will stir the ground two to three inches deep, and cultivate often. Cultivation pays better than fertilizer or anything else. He grows small fruit among the trees, but believes corn the best crop up to eight or nine years; then grows nothing. Does not think windbreaks essential, and would have none on the east or north; would not object to windbreak of Russian mulberry, or other hardy trees, on south and west. For rabbits, he wraps the trees, and keeps two good beagle hounds. Does not prune, except to keep watersprouts off, and cuts out limbs that cross. Thinks the wind thins the fruit sufficiently. Believes the best apples are self-pollenizers, and need no other varieties near, and that it does not pay to grow others. Never use any fertilizer. If orchard "runs out," would have another ready to take its place. Allows no stock in orchard. Is not troubled with insects. Has sprayed a little for tent-caterpillar. He digs out borers with a knife. His best market has been at home, selling by the bushel or wagon-load to farmers who do not grow any. Believes thorough cultivation better than irrigation. Prevailing prices, thirty-five to seventy-five cents per bushel. Uses male help, at one dollar per day without board.

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S. H. DOMONEY, Aurora, Cloud county: Have been in Kansas ten years. Have an orchard of ---- trees, planted from twelve to fourteen years, of Ben Davis, Winesap and Missouri Pippin for market, and Red June, Duchess of Oldenburg, Cooper's Early White and Kansas Keeper for family use. I prefer limestone soil with gravelly subsoil, in the bottom, with north slope, if possible. Prefer trees two years old with low heads. "I like a tree with a tap-root." Plow deeply and plant in loose soil, thirty feet apart each way. I grow potatoes and sweet corn for six or seven years, after which I sow orchard-grass. The best tool for cultivating is a disc harrow. Growing no crop in the orchard. I think windbreaks are essential, and prefer Russian mulberry, three rows, planted six by eight feet apart. I like the mulberry best because they come into leaf early and hold their foliage late. I prune a little, to thin out and let the sun in. I believe it would pay to thin fruit on the trees. I use stable litter, and fertilizer from the hog-pen, and think it pays if not put too close to the tree. I tried pasturing with hogs, but don't think it advisable, as they destroy the trees to get apples. I spray some with London purple after the bloom falls, to destroy canker-worm and codling-moth, and think I have reduced the latter by such spraying. I dig borers out. We pick by hand, and sort into very best, second best, and culls. I sell at retail and to the grocers in Concordia, Kan. I make some cider, and feed culls to the hogs; never dried any; winter some in barrels and boxes, and find Ben Davis and Missouri Pippin the best keepers. I do not irrigate. Use no hired help. Prices have ranged from fifty cents in summer to eighty cents in winter.

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H. L. FERRIS, Osage City, Osage county: A citizen of Kansas for twenty-one years. Have an orchard of 4000 apple trees--200 twenty years, 1800 seventeen years, 2000 sixteen years planted. Prefer, for commercial purposes, Ben Davis, Winesap, and Missouri Pippin; for family orchard: Winesap, Missouri Pippin, Jonathan, Romanite, and Maiden Blush; have discarded Rawle's Janet. Prefer good upland corn ground, with sand or gravel subsoil, north and east slope. I plow deep, and plant large two-year-old trees, shallow, and mound up; shorten roots and branches. Cultivate with plow and harrow from youth to old age. Grow corn in young orchard up to six years, afterward nothing. Prefer a windbreak on south, west, and north, of box-elders, Osage orange, or peach. Rub liver on trees to repel rabbits, and use a knife for borers. To prune with a little saw makes the trees grow faster, and the apples grow larger, and it pays. Use stable and barn-yard litter to fertilize with, and it pays. Would not allow live stock to run in orchard. Am troubled with roundheaded borers and codling-moth. Spray in May and June for bitter rot and fungous diseases. Fight borers with a five-eighths chisel, a wire, and coal-tar. Pick from step-ladders into tin pails hung to branch with wire hook; haul in boxes on spring wagon to packing place. Sort on tables into three grades--first, second, and cider apples; pack into eleven- or twelve-peck barrels. Sell in all ways; have sold in orchard. Ship the best; best market in Texas. Send six-inch apples to where they are scarce; culls I sell cheaply at home, evaporate some, and make vinegar. Use a Zimmerman evaporator and Eureka parers. Sell dried fruit at retail, have shipped some; do not think it pays, do not find a ready market. Store for winter use in boxes in cellar successfully; find Romanite and Winesap keep best; lose about one-fourth. Have irrigated some from a pond with an eight-inch hose and steam-power pump. Average price has been fifty cents per bushel for apples and five cents a pound for dried apples. Use male help gathering, and female help at dryer, paying eight to ten cents per hour.

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