The Apple Part 14

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 coa.r.s.e hay. Sorts into two cla.s.ses--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.

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 s.h.i.+p at once, which we sort in the orchard. I make two cla.s.ses--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 s.h.i.+pped 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.

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.

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, d.u.c.h.ess 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-gra.s.s. 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.

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.

s.h.i.+p 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 s.h.i.+pped 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.

A. OBERNDORF, Centralia, Nemaha county: Have lived in Kansas nineteen years. Have an apple orchard of 4200 trees, from three to twenty years planted. I am told Ben Davis and Gano are the best apples for commercial purposes; for family use I would prefer Early Harvest, Red Astrachan, d.u.c.h.ess of Oldenburg, Maiden's Blush, Ben Davis, Winesap, and Rawle's Janet. I prefer hilltop with northern slope. I prefer one-year-old, switch-like trees, set 1630 feet. I plant young orchards to corn, using double-shovel and diamond plow, and harrow; plant the bearing orchard to clover and cease cropping at five years. For rabbits I use paint during summer and wrap during winter. I also use paint for borers. I prune with shears and knife to secure an open center; do not think it beneficial.

Never thin apples. I fertilize with barn-yard litter; it seems to benefit the trees and prolong their fruitfulness. Do not pasture my orchard. My old trees are affected with flathead borer and leaf-roller.

The codling-moth trouble my apples. I sprayed three seasons; saw no benefit, so quit. I pick by hand, in a basket. I sort into three cla.s.ses: First cla.s.s, for market; second cla.s.s, for immediate sale, and small ones, for cider. I usually sell at the nearest market. Best market is at home. Never dry any. I store for winter markets in cellar, in barrels, boxes, and in bulk, and am successful; find that the Winesap and Rawle's Janet keep best. We have to repack stored apples before marketing; sometimes lose more than at other times. Do not irrigate.

Price has been fifty cents per bushel. I hire help at one dollar per day, or twenty dollars per month and board.

P. M. HOWARD, Clyde, Cloud county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-six years; have an apple orchard of 450 trees. For market purposes I prefer Ben Davis, Winesap, Missouri Pippin, Rawle's Janet, and Jonathan; and for family orchard Ben Davis, Winesap, Early Harvest, Maiden's Blush, Jonathan, and Wealthy. Would prefer a deep loam soil, clay subsoil, if not too close to the top, and almost level. I prefer two-year-old, low-head trees with no forks, planted in furrows. I cultivate my orchard to corn planted east and west as long as I can, using the plow and cultivator shallow; and cease cropping when the trees so shade the crop that there is no profit; I grow clover or weeds in a bearing orchard, and mow and leave on the ground for a mulch. Windbreaks are essential; I would make them of Osage orange planted in rows 24 or 26 feet. For rabbits I wrap the trees with corn-stalks, and for borers I mulch and keep the trees growing. I prune my trees when planted; I think it beneficial. I never thin the fruit on the trees. I fertilize my orchard with anything of a coa.r.s.e nature that is not easily disturbed; I would advise its use on all soils, unless very rich, deep clay soil; in such soil perhaps clean cultivation would be all that is necessary. I would add that my observations and experiences have taught me that the people of Kansas have lost millions of dollars from and through lack of knowing what we should have known. I think that the State Horticultural Society is doing a great and good work with _limited_ appropriations. I have never seen any one yet who read the reports from the horticultural department but what was in full sympathy with your labors, but wondered why more reports were not sent out. I think our legislators should be more wise; consequently, more liberal in their appropriations for the work and distribution of the same, not only to the farmers, but to people in towns and cities; their needs are in proportion as great as the farmers'.

As to the fruit business: On the southeast quarter of section 26, towns.h.i.+p 4, range 1, is one of the _best_ orchards I know of in Republic county (not the largest). It consists of about 450 apple trees, also peaches, cherries, pears, and grapes. Myself, little girls and wife planted it. I wish to tell you how every one of the different fruits have abundantly paid for labor and all cost, and left their owners a fair profit. The soil of this successful orchard is a black loam, upland prairie, clay subsoil; loam eighteen inches to two feet deep, previously cultivated in corn and potatoes, plowed, not listed. Lay of land: Two slight ridges; a wide draw; slope east and west. Trees more vigorous and bear as well in draw as on upland. Varieties: Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Jonathan, Winesap, Rawle's Janet, Maiden's Blush, mostly the first four. Planting: Distance, thirty by thirty feet, furrowed out with a fourteen-inch plow, running two furrows across each way. Cleaned out all loose dirt to make room for all roots to spread without turning up.

The little girls held the trees, tops leaning to the southwest about five degrees. I covered the roots well, tramped firmly, and filled with loose earth. Leave furrows so as to hold water on upper side of tree.

After all trees were out I gave each one a slight mulch of sorghum refuse. Cultivation: Crop always corn; rows running east and west. Rows far enough from trees so horses or singletrees would not touch them.

Cultivate shallow, with one horse, and light plow with very short singletree. Pruned some. All limbs where cut off were painted. Cut close and smooth; wounds healed readily. Tried to prune so that air and sun would go through and not against the trees. Pinch off all water or tender sprouts.

To protect from rabbits and borers I stand corn-stalks running clear up to branches around body; tie at top and bottom; keep trees low, a little heavier on southwest side. I believe with thorough cultivation and stalk protection we would hear of less borers. All mulch was kept away from bodies of trees. I believe it all nonsense not to prune, but it should be done while they are young. My observation has been all my life that a well-balanced tree is longer lived, has more bushels of fruit, of better quality, smoother limbs and trunks. So I would say if you do not intend to protect the bodies of your young trees and prune do not buy or plant them; it does not do to sow oats, wheat, rye, millet or any grain crops in your orchard. It is an easy way to keep weeds down and a sure way to kill your orchard. It does not pay to pasture even with calves; chickens are at all times beneficial; hogs after your orchard has matured so the trees can resist the hog, when he rubs against them, which the hog is sure to do, and perhaps he will pull some of the lower limbs. I have never sprayed, but firmly believe it profitable. Next year I expect to plant out a new orchard and cultivate along the line of the one I have told about, with such help as I can get from the horticultural department.

D. S. HAINES, Edwardsville, Wyandotte county: Has been in Kansas twenty-six years; has 3000 apple trees from two to twenty-five years old. Commercial varieties, Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Jonathan, and Willow Twig; and for family use, Early Harvest, Red Astrachan, Maiden's Blush, Jonathan, Grimes's Golden Pippin, Rawle's Janet, Celestia, and Winesap. Has tried and discarded Bellflower, Pennock, Baldwin, McAfee's Nonesuch and others for barrenness. Best location, hilltop, sandy loam with clay subsoil--any slope will do. Plants either in fall or spring, two-year-old thrifty trees, fifteen by thirty feet apart, a little deeper than they stood in the nursery. Grows corn, potatoes, cabbage, etc., well cultivated, among the trees, but not to crowd them, for five or six years. Uses a spading harrow where no crop is grown. After six years sows to clover. Needs no windbreaks in his section. Traps and shoots rabbits. Takes borers out with knife. Prunes very little; cuts out dead or broken limbs, as they are no good, and take up room. Never has thinned apples on the trees, but believes it would be all right.

Sees no difference in fruitfulness if trees are in blocks of a kind or mixed up. Would use barn-yard litter, but not close to the trees; believes in it on all soils. Does not pasture, and thinks it would not pay. Is troubled with borers, tent-caterpillars, leaf-rollers, leaf-crumblers, and codling-moths. Never sprays. Picks in sacks. Packs in orchard, in twelve-peck barrels well pressed. Uses table for sorting (described elsewhere) and makes Nos. 1, 2 and 3 grades. Marks name of variety and own name on barrel head. Sells his best in car lots at wholesale, the culls to peddlers. Generally markets at Kansas City. Has tried distant markets and made it pay. Never dried any. Stores for winter in barrels in cold store; not always satisfactory; thinks the cold-storage business not yet fully understood; says Ben Davis and Jonathan keep best. Sometimes repacks, at a loss of one-tenth to one-sixth. Does not irrigate. Prices have ranged from two to five dollars per barrel. Paid last year one dollar per day to men who could do a good day's work.

E. M. GRAY, Perry, Jefferson county: I have lived in Kansas forty years; my orchard of twenty acres has been planted twenty years. For market, I prefer Ben Davis and Jonathan on poor land; and Missouri Pippin and Winesap on rich land. For family orchard, Early Harvest, Red June, Winesap, Grimes's Golden Pippin, Missouri Pippin, and Huntsman's Favorite. Have tried and discarded Grimes's Golden Pippin, Lawver, Winesap, Missouri Pippin, and Huntsman's Favorite; they are not profitable, are too small when grown on poor land. I prefer yellow clay bottom, with an east, south or northern aspect. I prefer large, healthy, two-year-old trees, planted with a lister, subsoil plow, and spade. I cultivate my orchard to corn, small fruit, potatoes and nursery stock seven years, with a cutaway disc harrow, and cease cropping after eight years; I plant nothing in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of Russian mulberry, Osage orange, or cedars, by planting two rows of them on the south and west sides of the orchard.

For rabbits I keep a shot-gun and dogs. I do not prune; don't think it beneficial. I do not thin my apples while on the tree, but think it would pay. My trees are in mixed plantings; my Ben Davis are fuller and redder planted close by Jonathan and Winesap. I do not fertilize my orchard, but think it would be beneficial, and would advise its use on all exhausted soils in old orchards. Do not pasture my orchard; would not advise it, don't think it would pay. My trees are troubled with flathead borers, and my apples with curculio. I do not spray. I dig borers out with a knife.

Pick my apples by hand; have light-weight men climb the trees and pick in meal sacks, then lay on tables. Sort into two cla.s.ses: First, perfect, well colored, smooth, and good size; second, wormy, fair, and small size. Pack in three-bushel barrels, well rounded up; mark the variety of apples on the barrel with a stencil; haul to market on a hay-frame wagon. I sell in the orchard, wholesale, retail, and peddle; sell the best to highest bidder; sell the culls to driers or s.h.i.+p South or West. My best markets are where apples are scarcest. Do not dry any; it does not pay. Don't store any; I have to repack stored apples before marketing, losing about one-twelfth of them. Do not irrigate. Prices have been from $2 to $2.75 per barrel; dried apples, five cents per pound. I employ men at seventy-five cents per day. Apple-growing in Kansas, on high prairie land, is not very profitable to the grower, unless he has a good windbreak on south and west sides of his orchard.

In 1880 I planted twenty acres of apples trees of many varieties; Ben Davis and Jonathan were the only ones that paid me on high land. In 1895 I planted thirty acres to apples; fifteen acres on upland and fifteen acres on second bottom, sloping east and north. On the upland I put nothing but Ben Davis and Jonathan; on the bottom I planted Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Mammoth Black Twig, Gano, Winesap, and Jonathan--cross-fertilizing the Ben Davis every fifth row with the Mammoth Black Twig, Jonathan, and Winesap. I believe that cross-fertilization is beneficial to an orchard in making fruit more plentiful, larger, smoother, better color and quality. It is believed by many that Ben Davis, Jonathan and Winesap are self-fertilizers, and don't require crossing; that being the case, they should have the cross near by, in order to not decrease the species or run it out. Professor Darwin says self-fertilization is abhorrent to nature, and the same rule that applies to small fruits is equally applicable to apples. Why not?

Fruits and premium awards are my best advertisers. I have succeeded in carrying off most of the awards in every show I exhibited at, and have premiums on file to show for some. All my fruits are set for cross-fertilization, and I shall continue to set that way. Many have said and will say they see no difference; perhaps they are not close observers, and have given the subject little study. I have given the subject twenty-five years' study and experience, and think I am not mistaken. I think there is more money to be made on our high upland in pears, small fruits, and stone fruits. They pay me better than apples.

The Grimes's Golden Pippin would be a good apple to grow if the trees did not die after two or three crops. The Lawver apples fail to hang on the trees. The Missouri Pippin will not stand up on our high land unless surrounded by windbreaks; they look here like a Kansas cyclone had pa.s.sed through them--the limbs all blew off last fall. Winesaps fall off badly, and are affected with bitter rot. For trial purposes, I recommend Mammoth Black Twig, Gano, and York Imperial.

Dr. J. STAYMAN, Leavenworth, Leavenworth county: We came to Kansas thirty-nine years ago, and traveling over the eastern portion of the state selected Leavenworth as the most desirable point to commence tree and fruit-growing. We were then engaged in that business in Illinois, and had collected over 1000 varieties of apples, which we brought to Kansas; among them were nearly all the leading varieties then grown and many new and rare kinds of local reputation. Our object in making this collection was to grow them side by side, under the same conditions, to ascertain their value. In 1860 we set an orchard of a few hundred trees, consisting of about seventy varieties, two years old. Among them were Ben Davis, Winesap, York Imperial, Willow Twig, Rambo, Rawle's Janet, White Pippin, and Jonathan, and the leading apples generally grown, including summer and fall varieties. At the same time we set out about 1000 root grafts in a nursery. We then collected over 1000 more [scions]

and top-grafted them [into standard trees], to get the fruit sooner.

Over 1000 of these were received from the late Charles Downing. From this collection, and from specimens of fruit received, we have been able to accurately describe over 2200 varieties, with an outline cut of each, with seeds and core and all other characteristics. And to ascertain what effect climate had upon each variety, we kept an accurate meteorological record of the weather. This we furnished to the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., for ten years. We also grew the leading varieties on an elevation 400 feet higher, and on various aspects not over two miles apart, and learned what effect elevation and aspect had upon the bearing quality of different varieties.

For commercial orchard I prefer Stayman, Winesap, York Imperial, Jonathan, and White Pippin. It will be noticed that in the commercial list we omitted Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Gano, and Willow Twig. These varieties are all productive and profitable, but we believe the time has come (or soon will be) that the public will demand something better, and to meet this demand we have made the change; but to those who do not believe in progress the above varieties will prove at least productive, if not so profitable as in the past. In making out the list of apples we have hesitated somewhat in heading the list with Stayman, not from any doubt about the apple, but from the fact that it is not generally known; but this objection can be made against any apple when first introduced.

The following is the description we gave twenty-one years ago in our fruit notes: "Fruit large, heavy, form oblate conic, regular; color greenish yellow; mostly covered, splashed and striped with dark red; flesh yellow, firm, fine, tender, juicy, rich, mild, aromatic, subacid; quality good to best; season January to May. Seedling of Winesap; bore the ninth year from the seed." After fruiting this apple over twenty years we can add the following: It is a strong grower, has a darker leaf, is a better bearer, hangs on the tree better, is of larger size, is of much better quality, and will keep better than Winesap. Charles Downing gave a similar description of this apple in his appendix.

[Stayman Winesap.] R. J. Black, of Ohio, one of the best-posted pomologists, who has fruited it for years, puts it at the head of both the commercial and family lists, and says: "It has all the qualities of the Winesap without any of its faults." Prof. H. E. Van Deman, who has fruited it and seen it fruited in Delaware, puts it at the head of the list, and writes in respect to the change of name: "Stayman (apple) is worth almost a lifetime to produce." "Now, I have been so impressed with its coming value and popularity, that I have thought it ought to be shortened in name to _Stayman_." J. W. Kerr, of Delaware, says: "It is superior to its parent, the Winesap, in size, color, flavor, and keeping quality. The tree is more vigorous in growth. After several years'

fruiting, I have no hesitation in saying it is the finest all-round winter apple that has come under my notice." Professor Heiges writes us about the same in substance. Prof G. H. Powell, of the Delaware Experiment Station, says: "In quality it equals the Northern Spy, and is in season from October to May." We could give many quotations of equal value from _Rural New Yorker_, _Green's Fruit Grower_, and _National Stockman and Farmer_.

Since writing the above we find the following in the last-named paper of May 26: "One variety, Stayman, mentioned frequently in these columns, a seedling raised by our correspondent, Dr. J. Stayman, of Kansas, from the old Winesap, receives special commendation. It is remarkable that, in the wide section of country between Kansas and Delaware, in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Missouri, wherever this variety has been tried, it has developed the same excellences of size, quality, and keeping, as well as of vigor and productiveness. Lovers of choice apples will not fail to make a note of this." Winesap we place second on the list, after a fair trial of over thirty-five years side by side with Ben Davis. Give it good soil and high cultivation and but few apples will excel it. York Imperial we place third. It is not of the highest quality, but it is better than Ben Davis, and will keep in a common cellar, and command a high price. It is very productive in alternate years, and a hardy tree. Although we introduced this apple into the state thirty-eight years ago, yet its commercial value is scarcely known. Jonathan, perhaps, should stand at the head of the list for its great beauty, fine quality, and productiveness; but it matures so early, drops so badly, keeps so poorly, and requires so much care in handling, that we hesitate doing so. It is, however, a very profitable apple when well handled, and cannot be omitted, as no other in its season equals it. White Pippin: This apple of unknown origin and seldom mentioned should be better known, as it is far superior to the famous Newtown or Albemarle Pippin of the same type. We have had it in bearing on high and low land as long as any other apple, and find it very productive in alternate years, of the best quality, and bringing the best price. It keeps better, drops less, is of larger size, equal in quality, and will bring as high a price, where known, as the Jonathan. In a commercial orchard there should be few, if any, fall or summer varieties, unless favorably located; they should be of the best s.h.i.+pping and market varieties, as Early Ripe, d.u.c.h.ess of Oldenburg, Orange Pippin, Cooper's Early White, Jefferis, Muster, and Dr. Watson. These are all early bearers, very productive and salable, and of fine quality for table or kitchen. Those best for a family orchard are Stayman, Winesap, Jonathan, White Pippin, Mason's Orange, Summer Extra, Garretson's Early, Summer Pearmain, Early Joe, Jefferis, Early Ripe, d.u.c.h.ess of Oldenburg, Dr.

Watson, Muster, and Wagener; and for sweet apples there are none better than Broadwell, Ramsdell, Superb, Baltzby, and Mountaineer.

All these apples are early bearers, productive, and fine for family use, and we cannot well discard any; but eight or ten trees, of summer and fall varieties together, are enough to supply the largest family. It is better, however, to plant one of each variety, that we may have a succession of fruit throughout the season; also, if one variety should fail, others might not. It would require a very long list to name all we have tried and discarded, but we will name some: Rawle's Janet we reject, as it runs too small and cracks badly; Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Willow Twig, Gano, Arkansas Black and Mammoth Black Twig are all productive, but of poor quality; Maiden's Blush, Lowell, Porter, Rome Beauty, Western Beauty, Fulton, Trenton Early, Cole's Quince, and many others, because they ripen too irregularly and drop too badly. The White Winter Pearmain, Lawver, McAfee and Kansas Keeper blight badly and are not sure bearers; Early Harvest and Red Astrachan are not hardy; Summer Rose, Early Strawberry and Benoni are fine, but too small; Primate, Chenango and Gulley of Pennsylvania are too tender to handle; Smith's Cider, Hay's Wine, Fallawater, Scott's Best and Nonpareil Russet are productive, but ripen early and are not profitable. Many Southern winter varieties are too small, such as Haley, Gully, Kittageskee, and Harris.

Few if any Eastern winter apples are of any value here, as Northern Spy, Baldwin, Canada Red, Swaar, Sutton Beauty and Melon all ripen too early, and become poor, dry, fall apples. It is the same with all Northern apples, from whatever source or locality. It is a mistake to think we can find a winter apple adapted to Kansas that originated north of Kansas, under a lower mean temperature. This we have fully demonstrated beyond the possibility of a doubt.

Early apples require a specific amount of heat to bring them to maturity from the time the fruit forms. If brought from a colder climate to a warmer one, you hasten its growth and accelerate its maturity just in proportion to the difference in mean temperature of the two localities, and consequently it ripens in the fall here. I prefer hilltop for quality, keeping, and color, and bottom for size. Hilltop and steep bluffs are the best for all kinds of winter apples, as they produce the richest fruit, with the finest color, and they keep the best and are not so subject to injurious pests. Fifty feet of abrupt elevation is equal in its effect to fifty miles of lat.i.tude south on frosty nights. It r.e.t.a.r.ds spring growth as much as forty miles north. An elevation of 400 feet makes a difference of from ten to twenty-five per cent. in the amount of saccharine matter in fruit, to which rich quality, fine flavor and aroma are due. Bottom land produces the largest apples, more murky in color and more irregular in bearing. Rolling, intermediate Kansas land will prove satisfactory. East and south slopes hasten the maturity of fruit, and are the best for early varieties; a northern slope r.e.t.a.r.ds the ripening of fruit and is the best for winter apples. The best specimens of apples we ever saw in Kansas grew on a northern bench about thirty feet below the top of an elevation of 400 feet, on good, rich, well-drained soil. They were large in size, clear in color, and perfect in form. We prefer any good soil that will produce a good corn crop, with a well-drained clay subsoil; mucky, wet or hard-pan soils are not fit for fruit. Land that produces a good crop of wheat is rich enough.

We have seen a very heavy crop of York Imperial at its native home on quite thin freestone land. Almost any of the land in Leavenworth county is naturally rich enough if we only keep it so.

I prefer two-year-old untrimmed trees, set in furrows made with a two-horse plow, no deeper than we plant the trees, but wide enough to take in the roots. We set them about two inches deeper than they stood in the nursery, on the solid subsoil, and pack the dirt firmly amongst the roots; lean or set the heaviest top to the southwest. The largest and heaviest roots, if convenient, should be in the same direction.

After filling the hole, bank up a steep mound of earth around the tree.

If this is properly done no ordinary wind will ever move it. We prefer two-year-old or strong one-year-old trees, because they can be set more rapidly, cost less labor, less money, live better, and grow more stocky.

We want them taken up with care, give no pruning whatever, neither "cut their tops in to balance the roots," when planting in orchard. Trees that are taken up when young and set out in an open orchard without pruning grow stronger and more stocky, bear sooner, and are less subject to blight, sun-scald, and the attack of flathead and roundhead borers.

We have root-grafted as many as 500,000 in one season on sections of roots from two to six inches long with scions from three to twenty inches long, to see which were the best. Two-inch sections from one-year roots, grafted with scions about six inches long, set deep enough to form roots on the stock, are best. This "whole-root graft" is simply a _humbug_. It is the strength and vigor of seedling roots, not the length of them, that make the best-rooted trees. No sensible man will pretend to graft whole seedlings [roots] and set them out in a nursery. It cannot be done with success. We must cut off a portion of the root to do it. The question arises, how much? It is then not a whole root, and it becomes a question what length of root is best. It is not advisable to bud or graft seedling trees in the nursery, for all seedlings are not of the same vigor and hardiness; consequently the trees would differ similarly.

I plant my orchard to corn, potatoes, garden-truck, and small fruits, and keep this up, with clean cultivation, using a Planet jr. horse hoe, until they begin to bear, and cease cropping after ten years, planting nothing unless the above-mentioned crops or clover in a bearing orchard.

Windbreaks are injurious unless planted at least 200 feet from the orchard. The best protection is to plant the two outer rows of fruit-trees close together; they can be cut out, if desired, when they become too thick. This is better than high-growing shelter trees or evergreens. We want a free circulation of air to pa.s.s among the trees. A high and heavy protection produces an eddy which blights and sun-scalds the trees, as well as hastens the ripening and dropping of apples. We have had no occasion to use any protection from rabbits and borers since we quit pruning off the lower limbs. Pruning is not thoroughly understood. Trees are pruned to make them live, grow fast and stocky, and also slender; to make them bear young, give form, light and air, and to make them look alike; to bear heavy crops and fine specimens. It is claimed all this can be done by pruning; it can be accomplished without pruning in a much shorter time and without extra labor. We do not recommend pruning apple trees at any times excepting _after_ the trees are well established in the orchard; then the lower limbs _may_ be gradually removed to form the head, about two feet from the ground; but the longer we allow them to remain the heavier and stockier they become; for the body of the tree increases in size just in proportion to the amount of foliage on the lower limbs. We prune off dead, broken and sucker limbs, and have no objections to taking off limbs that chafe each other (if this should happen from neglect). We have lost more trees from pruning than from all other causes together. We have seen large orchards just in their prime that have been so injured from pruning that they never recovered. On the other hand, I have seen orchards that were so neglected, dilapidated and crowded that I thought a thorough pruning would make them more productive. I never thin the fruit on the trees; it is not necessary.

Pollination is no doubt an important factor in productiveness, size, quality, and form. We have had no opportunity to test the result with apples, as our varieties are all mixed up together. We would not plant in an orchard large blocks of any variety excessively; better have them intermixed with other varieties that bloom at the same time. The pollen of one variety may be congenial to some, while it may be neglected [repelled] by another; we will have to learn this by experience, or plant a less number of varieties together. We have little experience yet in planting large orchards of few kinds. Perhaps none of these varieties that are esteemed so highly are congenial to each other. We had better go slow about planting out 10,000 to 20,000 of one kind together. We may have gone too far now. We do not use any fertilizer for our trees only as we crop the land. The virgin soil of our county does not need fertilizing if planted in orchard until the tree comes into bearing, except we crop the land. It is, however, a mistake to think we can grow an orchard and crop the ground at the same time, without any injury to the orchard, unless we restore the lost fertility in some way. Orchards so exhaust the soil in about sixteen years' cropping that it is worth little afterwards. "It is estimated that an acre of apples in good bearing removes annually about forty-nine pounds of nitrogen, thirty-eight pounds of phosphoric acid, and seventy-two pounds of potash. If the fertility and productiveness of the orchard is to be kept up, these fertilizing elements must be returned in some form." At the market value of these fertilizing materials, it amounts annually to about twelve dollars an acre. It is estimated that an orchard will be in full bearing in about ten years. Then in six years of full bearing it will have exhausted the soil to the amount of seventy-two dollars per acre. Take in consideration the previous cropping of ten years, need we wonder what is the matter with our orchard? Should we diminish the feed of a vigorous horse annually for ten years, do you think he could pull the same load, or be of much value? The nitrogen is the most expensive element, representing about half of the whole, yet it can be restored to the soil by crimson or red clover, peas, vetches, beans, cow-peas, or turnips, which have the ability of converting the free nitrogen of the air into available plant food. The best method of accomplis.h.i.+ng this end is to grow these crops on the land and plow them under in their green state at about maturity. I do not pasture my orchard; it is not advisable and does not pay. My apples are troubled with codling-moth. I do not spray. For borers, I bank the trees, so that if they deposit their eggs they can be gotten out easily.

I pick my apples in baskets and sacks from a ladder, and sort them into three cla.s.ses: first, second, and culls. I pack in baskets and barrels; press them in barrels, and mark with name of variety. I wholesale my apples in the orchard to dealers; market the best in baskets and barrels, sell my second and third grades the best way I can, and throw the culls away. My best market is at home. I never tried distant markets, and do not dry any. I am successful in storing apples for winter in boxes and barrels in a cellar, and find Ben Davis, Stayman, Willow Twig and York Imperial keep best. In storing apples for winter, they should be picked before they are too ripe and when the weather is not too hot; when picked they should be taken at once to shade and packed and stored away in the cool of the evening. They should be well sorted, packed in tight barrels, and headed up to exclude the light and air. They will keep longer if each apple is wrapped with paper. The temperature of your cave or cellar should be reduced as much as possible by throwing the doors open at night and closing them through the day. A gradual reduction and a regular temperature is better than a sudden change. Apples should not be hauled about in the hot sun before storing them away, neither should they be placed in cold storage at once. The change is too sudden. It is the same in taking them out of cold storage.

It should not be done at once. A storing room for this purpose should be provided in every cold-storage plant. I do not have to repack stored apples if they are sold early, but if not until late we have to repack.

The loss depends upon the variety. I have tried irrigation on a small scale, but do not irrigate now. Prices have been from fifty cents to two dollars per barrel. I employ men that are capable of packing apples, paying from five to ten cents per hour. We seldom hear anything about fall planting, as if it was a settled fact that the spring was the best or the only time it could be done successfully.

All of our trees for the last thirty-eight years have been transplanted in the fall, excepting the last three years they were set out in the spring. The difference is decidedly in favor of fall planting; they start in growth earlier and make a much stronger growth the first season, and there is a gain of nearly a year in size over those planted in the spring, and they certainly have lived better. Why should they not do better? We have more time and less hurry to do the work well, the ground is in better condition, the trees have more time to callus and become firmly established. It is often too wet to take the trees up and transplant them early, and late setting is not advisable. The distance trees should be set apart is a more important matter than is generally supposed. Very few ever think how large a tree will grow and the s.p.a.ce it will occupy. Almost every thrifty variety will grow and spread, and require a foot of s.p.a.ce each year; that would be ten feet in ten years and forty feet in forty years; in other words, the trees will meet in forty years if set forty feet apart. This holds good in Kansas; consequently, forty feet apart is too close to plant trees if we expect an orchard to last that long. Apple trees will bear and be profitable for that length of time if they have sufficient s.p.a.ce, receive proper care and cultivation, and the fertility of the soil is not allowed to become exhausted. Many set their trees 1632 feet for the purpose of getting a large crop when the trees first come into bearing, with the intention of cutting out every other row when they crowd, but we fear very few if any ever think this will have to be done in fifteen years from the setting or the orchard would be ruined and the land very much impoverished. It would be much better and more profitable to set the trees 2424 feet and cut every other row out in twenty-four years, at least one way, and if they crowded, both ways, and not crop the land at all, except to keep up the fertility of the soil. By this method we could have a good bearing orchard for forty years or longer, which would pay better than closer planting and cropping the land to pay the expenses.

DAVID BROWN, Richmond, Franklin county: Have lived in Kansas thirty-four years; have an orchard of 2000 trees, averaging twenty years planted, composed entirely of Ben Davis, Jonathan, and Winesap; have discarded everything else. I would plant on nothing but deep upland soil, planting good yearling trees. I grow no crop in the orchard, and cultivate thoroughly always with plow and harrow. I have quit pruning, as it kills the trees. Never pasture the orchard. I spray with London purple for the canker-worm and codling-moth. Borers I cut out. I always sell at wholesale to s.h.i.+ppers at about eighty cents per barrel. Never dry any or store any for winter.