Chapter 12

J. S. GAYLORD, Muscotah, Atchison county: Have lived in Kansas twenty-six years; have 5000 apple trees, planted from one to twelve years. For market I prefer Missouri Pippin, Ben Davis, Winesap, and York Imperial, and for family would add Yellow Transparent, Cooper's Early White, Maiden's Blush, Grimes's Golden Pippin, Jonathan, Rawle's Janet, and Little Romanite. I prefer hilltop with eastern slope, and would plant only two-year-old trees. I have grown both seedlings for stock and root grafts, in the nursery. I believe in thorough cultivation with two-horse cultivator and double-shovel plow, using a five-tooth cultivator near the trees. I crop with corn from seven to nine years, and then sow to clover. I do not think windbreaks essential. For rabbits and to prevent borers I use equal parts of carbolic acid and water as a wash. I prune a little by cutting back on the north side and keeping out the watersprouts, which I think pays. I think it pays to thin apples by hand in July and August. I have used some stable litter in the orchard, and think it pays. I pasture horses in my orchard during winter, but no stock at any other time. I spray, after blossoms fall, three times, two weeks apart, with Paris green, for the codling-moth, and my apples are quite free from worms. I dig out borers and pick off worm nests. I pick by hand in half-bushel baskets, sell at wholesale, and the buyer sorts to suit himself. I have never dried or stored any. Prices in 1896 and 1897, seventy-five cents per barrel; spring of 1898, $1.25 to $1.65. I use laborers at one dollar per day.

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ALEX. SPIERS, Linn, Washington county: Have lived in Kansas twenty-eight years. For commercial orchard I prefer Jonathan, Cooper's Early White, Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Rawle's Janet, Dominie, Winesap; and for family orchard Jonathan, Winesap, Cooper's Early White, and Ben Davis. Have tried and discarded Yellow Bellflower on account of shy bearing. I prefer rolling upland, black, sandy loam with porous subsoil, and a southeast slope. I prefer two-year-old trees; have tried root grafts and seedlings with good success. I cultivate with a diamond plow up to bearing age. Windbreaks are essential, and I would make them of ash, box-elder, maple, and elm; I would plant either the young trees or seed. I prune with a saw, and use a chisel on watersprouts. I think it beneficial. I thin by shaking the tree when the fruit is small. I fertilize; think it benefits the trees, by making them grow stronger, and they fruit better; think it advisable on all soils. I pasture my orchard with hogs, but would not advise it; does not pay. Flathead borer and fall web-worm affect my trees. I spray, as soon as the bloom falls, with London purple. I sometimes sell my apples in the orchard, and sometimes from the cellar. I store apples in the cellar, and am successful. I do not irrigate. Prices have been from twenty-five cents to one dollar per bushel.

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THEO. BEDKER, Linn, Washington county: I have lived in Kansas thirty years; have an apple orchard of 100 trees from two to twelve years old. For market I prefer Ben Davis, and for a family orchard Winesap. I prefer bottom land with a sandy loam and a northeast aspect. I plant my trees in squares thirty feet apart. I cultivate my orchard for three years with a single-horse cultivator. Plant corn and potatoes in a young orchard; cease cropping after four years; plant timothy and clover mixed in bearing orchard. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of willows, by planting on north and south sides of the orchard. For rabbits I wrap the trees with corn-stalks in the winter, and dig the borers out. I prune my trees with a saw to make thinner; I think it beneficial, and that it pays. I do not thin the fruit while on the trees. I do not think it would pay. I fertilize my orchard with slaked lime, and would advise it on all soils. It helps to keep off borers. I do not pasture my orchard; do not think it advisable. My apple trees are troubled with bud moth, twig-borer, and leaf-crumpler, and my apples with curculio. I have sprayed when in bloom with London purple, but do not think I have reduced the codling-moth. I pick my apples by hand, and sort into two classes--good keepers and cider apples. Put them all in one pile and then sort. I prefer barrels or boxes, from three to twenty bushels; fill them full. I retail my apples. I sell the best in sacks by the bushel. Make cider for vinegar of the culls. Never tried distant markets. I dry some for home use in the sun; this is satisfactory. I am successful in storing apples in boxes and barrels in the cellar. I find the Rawle's Janet and Winesap keep best. I never tried artificial cold storage; I lose about one-twentieth of my stored apples. I do not irrigate. Prices have been from thirty-five to fifty cents per bushel.

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JOHN FULCOMER, Belleville, Republic county: Have lived in Kansas twenty-seven years; have raised for market Ben Davis, Winesap, and Jonathan; would prefer for family orchard Early Harvest, Red June, Duchess of Oldenburg, Cooper's Early White, Smith's Cider, Minkler, Missouri Pippin, Winesap, Ben Davis, Golden Sweet, and Maiden's Blush. Have tried and discarded about all varieties excepting the above named on account of being tender and unprofitable. I prefer bottom land, limestone soil with a gravel subsoil, and a northeast or eastern slope. I prefer for planting strong, stocky yearlings--never over two years old--set at the crossing of furrows plowed with a lister. I cultivate my orchard to potatoes, pumpkins, squashes, melons, or any low hoed crop. I use an ordinary ten- or twelve-inch plow, and a five-tooth cultivator, and keep this up until they begin to bear; then seed to clover, mow it, and let it rot on the ground; then let the clover seed fall under, harrow, and let come up again. Windbreaks are beneficial; would make them of ash and Osage orange, by planting a few rows of trees inside of the hedge. To protect against rabbits, I wrap the trees. I prune with a saw and knife to remove chafing and dead limbs, and to make the tree more healthy and vigorous. I think it beneficial. I never thin the fruit on the trees. I fertilize my orchard with coal and wood ashes; think it beneficial, and would advise their use on all soils. I do not pasture my orchard. My trees are troubled with canker-worm, and my apples with codling-moth. I never have sprayed to any extent. I hand-pick my apples, in one-half bushel splint baskets; sort into two classes as soon as picked.

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LOW. MILLER, Perry, Jefferson county: Have lived in Kansas thirty years. Have an apple orchard of 2400 trees from one to fifteen years old. For commercial purposes I prefer Jonathan, Missouri Pippin, and Ben Davis, and for family orchard Early Harvest, Red Winter Pearmain, Cooper's Early White, and Rambo. I prefer bottom land, clay soil and a porous subsoil, with a north and east slope. I prefer two-year-old, low-headed, stocky trees, planted twenty-five by thirty feet. I cultivate my orchard to corn for six years, using a plow, cultivator, and harrow, and cease cropping after six or seven years. Grow only weeds in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of maples, planted two rods apart around orchard. For rabbits I keep two hounds and a shot-gun. I get after the borers with a knife. I prune with a knife to keep out watersprouts. Never have thinned fruit on the trees. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter, and think it has proven beneficial, but would not advise its use on all soils. I pasture my orchard with horses, but would not advise it. I doubt if it pays. My trees are troubled with borers, and my apples with codling-moth. I do not spray. Pick my apples by hand into sacks. I sort into three classes--first, second, and culls--into baskets from the ground. I sell apples in the orchard at wholesale. I market my best apples in barrels; sell second and third grades to vinegar and cider-mills. My best market is at home. Never tried distant markets. Do not dry any. I store some apples in bulk in a cellar, and am successful. Ben Davis and Missouri Pippin keep best. Prices have been seventy-five cents to $1.50 per barrel. I employ men and boys at one dollar per day.

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WM. GURWELL, Fanning, Doniphan county: I have lived in Kansas thirty-five years; have 5000 apple trees, planted from two to thirty years. For commercial orchard I prefer Ben Davis, Winesap, Jonathan, White Winter Pearmain, and Rawle's Janet; and would add for family use Early Harvest and Dominie. Have tried and discarded Yellow Bellflower; not prolific in this climate. I prefer hill with black loam and clay subsoil; any slope but southwest is good. I prefer two-year-old trees, and set them in holes dug two and half to three feet square with a spade, and set the trees two or three inches deeper than they stood in the nursery. Have tried home-grown root grafts, and was successful. I cultivate to corn, potatoes, pumpkins, and melons, using plow and harrow. I crop a bearing orchard lightly, and cease when in full bearing. I kill the rabbits. I prune with saw, knife, and clippers, and think it beneficial. I seldom thin fruit on the trees. My trees are planted in blocks. I fertilize the land near the trees with stable litter; I would advise its use on thin soil. I pasture my orchard with calves and hogs, and think it advisable; it pays in some orchards. Trees are troubled with borers; I hunt the borers with a wire. We pick carefully in large baskets and sacks from a step-ladder; I pack in barrels. My best market is northwest of here; I sometimes sell in the orchard at wholesale, retail, and peddle; dry and make cider of the culls; never dry for market. I sometimes store a few apples, and find the Winesap, White Winter Pearmain and Rawle's Janet keep the best. We have to repack stored apples before marketing them. Do not irrigate. Prices have been from 60 cents to $1.25 per barrel. I employ all kinds of help, and pay one dollar per day.

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SAMUEL H. BERT, Moonlight, Dickinson county: Have been in Kansas nineteen years; have 500 apple trees from four to twenty-two years planted; the oldest are twelve inches in diameter. For commercial purposes use Winesap, Missouri Pippin, and Janet, and for family use would add Red June and Maiden's Blush. Have tried and discarded Red Streak, Romanite, Rambo, and Bellflower. I prefer bottom in this locality with a northeast slope. I plant twenty-eight or thirty feet apart. I plant two-year-old trees; rather plant a yearling than three-year-olds. Have never tried root grafts or seedlings. I cultivate even my oldest trees, using a plow and harrow; it pays. I grow corn in young orchard until too large; then nothing, just cultivate. Windbreaks are essential, and should be made of Osage orange or mulberries; but not too close to the orchard. I tie corn-stalks around the trees to protect from rabbits, and keep the trees low, to shade the trunks to protect against borers. I prune to prevent forks, to keep from splitting. I thin apples when necessary; this should be done when they are about half grown. I prefer to plant my trees in blocks. An orchard should be fertilized with fine stable litter. I would advise the use of it, especially on upland soil. Never pasture my orchard. My trees are troubled with flathead borers. Never sprayed much, but think it would be beneficial. I pick in sack hung over shoulder. We make three classes of our apples--large, small, and specked. Have no particular way to market; sell any way I can, but never in the orchard. We make cider, boiled cider and apple-butter of the culls. Never have tried distant markets. Never dry any. Store some for winter in bulk and in barrels in cellar; am successful; find that the Winesaps keep best. Have never tried artificial cold storage. We have to repack stored apples before marketing; lost very few this winter, as I kept them out of the cellar until December; then they kept well. I do not irrigate. Prices have been from 60 cents to $1.50 per barrel.

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G. E. SPOHR, Manhattan, Riley county: Have resided in Kansas twenty-six years. Have an orchard of 3000 trees, nineteen years planted. Originator of the Spohr apple (described elsewhere). Plants for commerce Winesap, Missouri Pippin, and Ben Davis; for family orchard, Winesap, Missouri Pippin, Maiden's Blush, and Early Harvest. Have tried fifty varieties, but think none of them paid better than those named. I live on bottom land, eight feet to water. Any slope is good. Prefer sandy loam. Plant two-year-old, well-pruned trees, in large holes. Cultivate thoroughly, planting to corn until seven years old; then seed to alfalfa. I favor windbreaks of Scotch or Austrian pines, planted in three rows ten feet apart. I believe in pruning, and always have my knife open when in the orchard, and trim at all times; like to have trees, not brush piles. The deity governing Kansas winds thins the fruit sufficiently. Apple trees are more fruitful if varieties are mixed in planting. Use all the two- and three-year-old stable litter I can get. Do not pasture my orchard. Spray with London purple one week before and two weeks after blooming, for canker-worm, leaf-roller, and codling-moth, and have reduced the latter by it. I hunt the borers and go after them with a hot (?) iron. Pick by hand, and sort to suit customers. Pack in eleven-peck barrels, and mark with stencil. Sell my best apples to shippers, and make vinegar and hog and cattle feed of culls. My best market is Colorado, but I sell in orchard. I store successfully for winter in a cave in bulk, and find Winesap and Missouri Pippin the best keepers, losing about ten per cent. Prices average fifty cents per bushel. Pay help from $12.50 per month to 75 cents per day and board.

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R. D. OSBORNE, Soldier, Jackson county: Have lived in the state thirty-one years; have 500 apple trees, from three to sixteen years planted. For commercial purposes I prefer Ben Davis, York Imperial, Gano, and Winesap; for family orchard, Winesap, Missouri Pippin, and, for summer, Early Harvest, Maiden's Blush, and Cooper's Early White. Have tried and discarded Vandevere, as it does not bear, and Willow Twig on account of blight; Rawle's Janet no good on market. I prefer hilltop if well cultivated; otherwise bottom, with a loam soil and a sandy subsoil, and a southeast slope to protect from southwest winds. I plant two-year-old trees, three feet to head, not less than three limbs to form head, thirty feet each way. I cultivate with plow, harrow and spade the square immediately surrounding the tree. I plant corn in the young orchard and seed the bearing orchard to clover; cease cropping at five or six years. I think windbreaks essential on southwest, and would plant Osage orange or Russian mulberry. I wrap with grass or tarred paper to protect from rabbits. I prune in May to spread the top and thin the fruit. I seldom thin the fruit, but it will pay to thin the last of May. I fertilize with stable litter, but would advise it only on hill orchards. I pasture the orchard with hogs and horses, and think it advisable, and that it pays. My apples are troubled with codling-moth. I spray during May, after the blossom has fallen, with kerosene emulsion, sulphate of copper, and London purple, for codling-moth, blight, and insects generally. I think I have reduced the codling-moth. I treat borers with crude carbolic acid diluted with water. I dig around tree down to the roots, dam outside, fill around tree with water and acid strong enough to tingle your tongue. I hand-pick from ladders by the ordinary method. Never sell in orchard; make cider of second- and third-grade apples; feed culls to stock. My best markets are Holton and Topeka; never have tried distant markets. Never dry any. Store but few apples in an orchard cave, nine feet deep, eight feet wide by twenty-four feet long. The apples are put on shelves about ten inches deep.

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H. L. JONES, Salina, Saline county: Have lived in Kansas forty-four years; have an apple orchard of 6000 trees, planted from five to twenty-five years. For market I prefer Missouri Pippin, Winesap, Jonathan, Lowell, Cooper's Early White, Grimes's Golden Pippin, and Wealthy. For family orchard would plant Early Harvest, Maiden's Blush, Jonathan, Winesap, Missouri Pippin. Have tried and discarded Alexander as a shy bearer which rots on the tree. Prefer bottom land here, sandy soil, free from clay or hard-pan. Preferable with northeast slope. Plant well-branched two-year-old trees; turn deep cross-furrows the distance the trees are wanted apart; cultivate in corn until the trees are five or six years old; after that use the plow and disc harrow and plant nothing. I emphatically believe that windbreaks are essential. They may be made of anything hardy and suitable, as Osage orange, box-elder, walnut, etc. To protect from rabbits, wrap with grass or corn-stalks. I only prune with shears and saw, to clear the limbs off the ground a little. I believe stable litter is good for an orchard. I pasture very little, and do not think it good for an orchard. I spray as soon as the leaves start, with Paris green or London purple, mostly for canker-worm, and doubt its effect upon codling-moth. Thrifty trees are not usually bothered with borers, and unthrifty trees should be made into firewood. Our pickers use sacks with strap over the shoulder. We sort into four classes: First, large, sound fruit; second, small sound fruit; third, slightly damaged fruit; fourth, culls. Very little packing is done here; apples are usually sold to shippers in bulk. I sell my culls to hundreds of farmers in this and adjoining counties for canning, apple-butter, etc. My best market is here in Salina. I have tried distant markets, but it did not pay very well. Have never dried any; stored but few for winter in baskets and barrels. I find the Missouri Pippin, Winesap, Rawle's Janet and Romanite are the best keepers. Our loss in keeping varies with the season and the condition of the apples at picking time. Have never irrigated any. Prices during the past six years have varied from twenty-five to fifty cents per bushel. I use men and boys to help pick and at spraying time in the spring, usually paying one dollar per day.

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N. CHRISTENSEN, Mariadahl, Pottawatomie county: I have lived in Kansas forty years. Have an apple orchard of four acres, from five to twenty-five years planted. For all purposes I prefer Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, and Winesap. I prefer second-bottom land with a black loam, a clay subsoil, and a northeast slope. I prefer good two-year-old trees planted thirty feet apart, alternated with peaches. I have cultivated my orchard to corn, but do not think it advisable. I used a plow, cultivator and disc for eight years. I have cultivated the young orchard both ways twelve times, and shall keep on with the disc and harrow. I cease cropping after six or eight years, and then grow alfalfa. Windbreaks are not essential. I use wire-cloth as a protection against rabbits; I would not risk an apple or pear tree without it. I prune with a knife, saw and shears when the trees are young; I think it beneficial, as it makes the trees healthier. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter; I spread it all over the ground and then harrow it in. I pasture my orchard with calves after it is six or eight years old and has been seeded to grass; I think it pays in an old orchard. My trees are troubled with tent-caterpillars and borers. I have not sprayed yet, but think I shall this spring with Bordeaux mixture. I pick my apples by hand; sort into two classes. I feed my second and third grades and culls to the calves and hogs; have made cider of them, but could not find market for it. I have tried shipping apples to distant markets, but it did not pay. I dry some apples for home use, using stove and sun; neither way is satisfactory. I store my best apples in bulk in a cellar under the house; am not very successful; I find Ben Davis and Winesap keep the best. Prices have been from twenty-five to fifty cents per bushel. I do not hire any help; the family does the work.

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H. R. ROBERTS, Perry, Jefferson county: I have lived in Kansas since 1859; have an apple orchard from four to twenty-eight years old. For a commercial orchard I prefer Jonathan, Ben Davis, Winesap, Missouri Pippin, and Maiden's Blush; and for a family orchard Red June, Maiden's Blush, Jonathan, Winesap, and Rawle's Janet. I prefer midland altitude or bottom, with a rich loam and a clay subsoil, and a northeast slope. I prefer two-year-old trees with upright heads, set 30x40 feet in squares. I cultivate my trees with a plow and cultivator until they occupy most of the ground. I plant corn and potatoes in a young orchard, and cease cropping when the size of the trees renders it impossible. I seed the bearing orchard to red clover. Windbreaks are not essential; a hedge fence is all that is necessary, and this ought not to be nearer than forty feet of the trees. For rabbits I wrap the trees; and dig the borers out with a knife. I prune sparingly with a knife or sharp ax to remove all dead or injured limbs; I think it pays. I thin the fruit when the trees are overloaded, by taking off one-half after they are the size of marbles. My trees are planted in blocks for convenience in picking. I fertilize my orchard with all the barn-yard litter I can get, scattered broadcast; would advise its use on all soils unless already very rich. I am sorry to confess I have pastured my orchard with hogs; it is not advisable. My trees are troubled with canker-worm, tent-caterpillar, root aphis, roundhead borers, and buffalo tree-hopper; and my apples with codling-moth, curculio, and gouger. I have sprayed just as the buds open for canker-worm; have also sprayed for codling-moth. I pick all the apples I can reach from the ground in baskets, and the rest from ladders into sacks; I handle very carefully. I sort into two classes from a table as they come from the trees; pack in eleven-peck barrels for fall use, and twelve-peck barrels for winter use, carefully shaken and pressed; mark with the grade and name of variety and haul to market on wagon. I always sell in the orchard by car lots, when I can. I retail the scattered ones; send the third grade to the cider-mills. My best markets are sometimes both east and west of here. I never ship to commission men; it don't pay. I don't dry nor store any. I do not irrigate. I employ men and boys (men preferred). Pay one dollar per day and dinner.

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