THE STATE, BY DISTRICTS. (continued 2)

I prune with a saw to keep down surplus wood growth and improve the quality of the apples. It is beneficial if carefully done, a little every spring and not much at once. I believe thinning will pay when the trees are abnormally full. Remove as nearly as possible all defective fruit when half grown, and what is left will be of higher grade in size, color, and quality. I believe a decomposed stable fertilizer is necessary on some soils. Better not pasture with any stock whatever; I do not think it advisable; I think the profit (?) would be an expensive one. Am troubled somewhat with canker-worm, bud moth, borers, leaf-rollers, codling-moth, curculio, and gouger. I sprayed one year for insects generally with London purple through the spring season, and do not think it was a success. I pick about as Judge Wellhouse does, and sort into three classes; the best we make firsts, the best half of the balance we call seconds, and the balance are simply culls. We pack in barrels and haul to market with wagons provided with racks holding sixteen barrels each. I sell my best apples at wholesale, but have never sold them in the orchard; the second grade I sell to groceries and peddlers; the culls I sell to anybody, usually in the orchard. I have never tried distant markets. I never dry any. I store for winter in a cold store built for the purpose on my own farm, which has been described in the paper. I have also tried artificial cold storage, and the Jonathans kept well. [See Cold Store.]

E. P. Diehl, Olathe, Johnson county: I have lived in Kansas thirty years; have an apple orchard of 700 trees, twenty inches in diameter, twenty-nine years old. For market I prefer York Imperial, Jonathan, Winesap, and Ben Davis, and for family orchard Early Harvest, Maiden's Blush, Winesap, and York Imperial. Have tried and discarded Bellflower, Dominie, Pennsylvania Red Streak, and White Winter Pearmain. I prefer hilltop with a mulatto limestone soil, northeast aspect. Would plant two-year-old trees, forty feet apart. I plant my orchard to corn and potatoes for five years, using a cultivator; cease cropping after six years; plant nothing in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are essential; I would make them of trees, planted on the south, west, and north. I prune with a knife and saw; think it beneficial. I thin the fruit on my trees the latter part of May, and think it pays. My trees are in mixed plantings. I fertilize my orchard; think it beneficial and that it pays. Pasture my orchard very little, late in the fall, with horses; think it advisable and that it pays. My trees are troubled with canker-worm, tent-caterpillar, bud moth, root aphis, bagworm, flathead borer, roundhead borer, woolly aphis, twig-borer, and oyster-shell bark-louse; and my apples with codling-moth. I spray with London purple, using a force-pump, and think I have reduced the codling-moth. Those insects not affected by spraying I dig out with knife and wire. I hand-pick my apples from a step-ladder into a sack with a hoop in the mouth. Sort into three classes: first, second, and third; pack by hand in three-bushel barrel, mark with stencil, and ship by rail. I sell my apples in the orchard, wholesale and retail. Sell my best ones to apple dealers. Sell my second- and third-grade apples at the stores; make vinegar of the culls. I have dried apples with an American dryer with satisfaction; after dry, pack in barrels; we find a ready market for them and think it pays. I store apples for winter in bulk in a cave and am successful; I find York Imperial and Rawle's Janet keep best. We have to repack stored apples before marketing, losing about twenty per cent. of them. I do not irrigate. I get six cents per pound for dried apples. I employ men at $1.25 per day.

In the growing of apples in Kansas many things are to be well considered. That injunction of Davy Crockett's must be kept constantly in view to be successful: "Be sure you're right, then go ahead." First, to select varieties that are well adapted to your soil; next, location; last but not least, the preparation of the soil and future care. Many of the varieties that are well adapted to the Eastern states are unprofitable here. Another great mistake is the planting of too many varieties. When I first came to this state thirty years ago, I consulted Col. A. S. Johnson, now of Topeka. From him I obtained a great deal of valuable information, he having had thirty-six years of Kansas experience. I should, no doubt, have planted many that I did not, owing to the information obtained of him; so it may be seen that, by proper care, experience, and observation, we may be of benefit to the rising generation. Having selected your varieties by consulting the published fruit list of the Kansas State Horticultural Society, next select your location. Select, if you can, the highest northern slope; next east, next west. Put your ground in good order by plowing and subsoiling at least fifteen inches deep. Should there be any tenacious soil or spouty places, tile with four-inch tile, forty feet apart, three feet deep. A great mistake is made by many in planting too closely. I have trees twenty-eight years old, forty feet from tip to tip. Plant to some cultivated crop for six years, then seed to clover; trim your trees each February; keep the borers out, and if they do get into your trees hunt them out; spray your trees frequently at the proper time to prevent the noxious insects from getting the start of you, and when your trees commence to bear commence to fertilize by turning under clover and stable litter. Horace Greeley once said: "You might as well expect milk from a cow tied to a stake as apples from an orchard uncared for."

A. Munger, Hollis, Cloud county: I have lived in Kansas fifteen years; have an apple orchard of seventy-five trees twelve inches in diameter, eighteen feet high, seventeen years old. I prefer for market Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, and, to a limited extent, Yellow Transparent and Grimes's Golden Pippin, and for a family orchard add Early Harvest and Maiden's Blush. Have tried and discarded the Willow Twig on account of blight and rot. I prefer bottom land, with a loose subsoil, and young and stocky trees. I plant my orchard to potatoes, beans and vines for ten years, and use a cultivator that keeps three inches very mellow, and cease cropping when impossible to cultivate. I grow weeds in the orchard and mow them. Windbreaks are not essential, but are very desirable; would make them of Osage orange, Russian mulberries, or box-elder. Set the first row four feet apart, the second six inches, and never trim; the third six feet. For rabbits I use traps and gun. I hunt the borers and encourage the birds. I prune my trees so as to give air and sunshine; think it pays. Do not thin the fruit while on the trees. My apples are in mixed plantings. I fertilize my orchard in the winter with stable litter fresh from the stable; it appears to do good, and would advise its use, with judgment, on all soils. I pasture my orchard with hogs and calves. I do not think it advisable among young trees. My trees are troubled with leaf-roller, and my fruit with codling-moth. I spray just after the blossom falls, with Paris green, for the codling-moth. Prices have been from 25 cents to $1 per bushel. What the future of apple-growing in northern central Kansas may be, it is of course impossible to tell, but from the success of the few orchards that have been planted, and after being planted have received some attention besides that bestowed by calves and pigs, it would seem well worth a trial. There are years when the best attention possible cannot prevent damage and some loss from drought, especially on upland. For this reason bottom land would seem more suitable for an orchard in this county, even though subject to some disadvantages. In some orchards on low land only a few feet above the water-level, where a sandy subsoil admits of a free natural subirrigation, the thrift and productiveness of the trees have been unusually good. Cold seems to be dreaded less than hot, dry weather in the latter part of the summer, although late spring frosts sometimes do damage. Even the traditional "north slope" might have its advantages somewhat balanced in this county by the valley lands that retain a large amount of moisture.

A good soil with a loose subsoil that holds the greatest possible amount of water are the most important requirements as to location. If the cultivation is then such as to save the water of early summer rains to the best advantage until the dry weather of the late summer comes, it will be drawn upon, and some very dry seasons may be tided over without much loss. Plowing in the spring and very frequent shallow cultivation afterwards are, as yet, the best known means to this end; and as a general rule they are sufficient to answer every purpose as far west as central Kansas, without artificial watering, as the average rainfall shows; but if the early rains are allowed to go to waste by falling on the hard ground and running directly off, or by rapid evaporation from an undisturbed surface, where capillary force is rapidly carrying back to the surface what has already soaked in, we invite ultimate failure when the drought comes. Cultivate once a week, or after each rain, when they come oftener than that, with something that will keep two or three inches of very fine, mellow earth on the surface, and will cause an amount of water to be retained in the soil below the earth mulch that will surprise any one who has never tried it. An ordinary harrow will do very well, or better a five-tooth cultivator, behind which I fasten a 2×4 scantling with large wire nails driven through it, about two inches apart, weighted on the back edge to keep it right side up; the scantling is cut as long as the width of the cultivator. At one operation the cultivator and this harrow leave the ground about like a hand-rake would, marked only by the footprints of the driver. Last summer this was used several times where young peach trees had been set out, going around each row and sometimes over the entire ground. There was no time during the summer that the trees stopped growing or showed signs of needing more moisture than they had. Nine hundred and ninety-four lived, the horses killed two, and the borers two more. Fifteen years ago I bought a small farm having on it a small family orchard of seventy-two apple trees. It included several varieties, from summer to winter sorts.

The trees were 28×28 feet apart, with peach trees alternating both ways, making three times as many peaches as apples in the orchard. The land was cultivated until the trees were ten years old, then sowed to timothy and clover. The timothy soon died out; but the clover lived for a few years, but is gone now. It happened that some of the years that it was not cultivated were some of the driest during the fifteen, and several trees died of blight. Would this have happened if the cultivation had been continued? I have gone to plowing and cultivating again, anyway, with no crop in the orchard. The trees are now fifteen or twenty feet high, and about twelve inches in diameter at the ground. The peach trees have mostly been cut out. Cannot see that they did any harm, unless it might have been harder on the apple trees during the dry season; but if it was, the peaches were worth about as much as the apples, and the trees make a quick, bushy growth, thus forming a shelter for the apple trees, which now stand straight and are well balanced. We have had a peach crop about half of the years. Potatoes, beans and vine crops were raised in the orchard the first few years. It was surrounded by a windbreak of cottonwood and box-elder trees, several rows, seven feet apart each way. This is certainly very beneficial; but Russian mulberries grow as well, make a thicker top, and at the same time invite birds to keep up their quarters there and make their homes with us, "a consummation devoutly to be wished." Osage orange, planted the same as for a hedge and never cut back, will make a better windbreak than cottonwood or box-elder, and a fence at the same time.

This orchard has borne variable crops, some good, some light, but always fruits. It is on bottom land sloping very slightly to the southeast; soil a sandy loam with a clay subsoil. It has been pruned considerably, but not very much at a time. One man in this county who succeeds well with apples never prunes, except to keep the center open to sun and air. Another near him gave his orchard a severe trimming a few years ago, and had no fruit, but some dead trees for two or three years afterward. In planting, the ground should be well plowed, then mark off one way with a plow or lister. Twice to the row with the lister, with three or four horses, and the subsoiler well down, will make a very good preparation for small trees without much digging, and small trees are best for several reasons: they are cheaper, less work to set out, and more likely to live. Set stakes to go by, and, in planting, cross the furrows. We have just finished setting 2000 peach trees in this way, and very little digging was needed. Then cultivate well and often. Rub off shoots that start where limbs are not wanted, and start an evenly balanced top of four or five limbs. A year after the trees are set out, if any of them are leaning much, dig away the dirt on the side from which they lean, and set them up straight, tramping the dirt well on the opposite side.

With winter will come the rabbits, and they will girdle the trees if not prevented. Many and varied are the sure cures for them, but none are perfect. A wash of ordinary whitewash and a pint of sulphur to the bucketful, applied with a brush or swab to the bodies of the trees, generally stops their work, but if the rain washes it off it must be put on again or they will resume operations. A little coal-oil added to the whitewash prevents the rain from having so much effect on it; make it thin, so it will not scale off so badly. Two applications have been enough for our young trees the past winter. We also use traps which are very similar to the Wellhouse traps, described in the Kansas State Horticultural Report for 1897. Tarred paper, corn-stalks, veneering, screen wire, cloth tied around the trees, or a woven-wire fence around the entire orchard, are all among the practical means used to fence against rabbits; but don't try the plan of one of my neighbors, unless you have too many trees; he applied coal-tar; it kept the rabbits off, and his orchard is now a treeless corn-field.

During winter we haul manure direct from the stable and spread under the trees (not against them) out as far as the ends of the limbs. On good ground I would not do much of this until the trees get to bearing, as it would interfere somewhat with cultivation and would not be needed, but when a good annual crop is taken from the orchard something must be returned, or the supply is going to run out. On thin land rotten manure applied when the trees are small will do them good. Pasturing an orchard at any time is of doubtful expediency; it is safer not to. I have sprayed but once. That was done just after the blossoms fell, and again ten days later. There were fewer wormy apples than usual. That was last year. Think I will try it further.

For a home orchard Early Harvest, Yellow Transparent, Maiden's Blush, Grimes's Golden Pippin, Winesap, Missouri Pippin and Ben Davis do well here and keep up a supply from first to last. For commercial planting Ben Davis is perhaps best here as elsewhere. Missouri Pippin does well; Winesap bears enormously, but is too small, and gets smaller as the trees get older. There is a good local demand here for Grimes's Golden Pippin and a few of any very early variety. Willow Twig has been worthless on account of blight and rot. Encourage birds by every means, and never let one, or a nest, be disturbed, unless it is that belligerent little alien, the English sparrow. They are at war with all the feathered tribe, even with their own relations, and should be exterminated. Don't begrudge birds a few feeds of cherries and berries, when they work for nothing and board themselves nearly all the year.

A. H. Buckman, Topeka, Shawnee county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-eight years; have an apple-orchard of 1000 trees two to twenty-six years old. For market I prefer Maiden's Blush, Jonathan, Winesap, Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, and Huntsman's Favorite; and for a family orchard White Juneating (the earliest apple known), Red June, Early Ripe, Duchess of Oldenburg, Sweet June, Fulton Strawberry, Cooper's Early White, Smokehouse, Maiden's Blush, Grimes's Golden Pippin, Jonathan, Winesap, Rawle's Janet, Ben Davis, Ramsdell Sweet, Roman Stem, and Red Romanite. I have tried and discarded King, on account of rot, falls early, water core, short-lived; Kansas Keeper, on account of blight, poor tree; Yellow Bellflower, on account of being a shy bearer and rot; Willow Twig, on account of blight; Lansingburg, on account of blight when the tree is young; R. I. Greening, on account of its falling early, and rot. Baldwin, falls early and rots. Lawver, no good on my soil. McAfee's Nonsuch, poor bearer. Rambo, not acclimated. Northern Spy, rots. Pryor's Red, ripens unevenly, and is affected with scab. Dominie, there are many better of its season. Esopus Spitzenburg, rots badly. Rome Beauty, good some seasons. Ohio Nonpareil, poor bearer, falls before ripe. Lowell, blights while trees are young. Winter Swaar, rots before perfectly ripe. Autumn Swaar, good of its season, and should have a place in the family orchard. York Imperial, poor quality; rots too bad for commercial purposes. American Summer Pearmain, shy bearer while young. White Winter Pearmain, is affected with scab and is no good. Red Winter Pearmain, falls off early; the tree is poor. Gilliflowers, black and red, rot badly. Pennsylvania Red Streak, affected with scab; very good some seasons; trees die early. Sweet Bough, trees die early. Bentley Sweet, keeps all right, moderate bearer; tree appears to be tender. Clayton, rots and is no good. Calvert is a poor bearer and rots with me. Pound Pippin, no value. Iowa Blush, no value, small. Red Vandervere, no value; rots. Vandervere Pippin, moderate bearer and rots. Pennock Summer, good market in its season. Pennock, fairly good; we have plenty better. Early Harvest is affected with scab some seasons. Early Ripe is better and larger and to be preferred. Smith's Cider, blight, poor tree. Red Astrachan, poor bearer. Roxbury Russet, all russets fail with me. Jefferis, quality fine, but will not bear. Ortley, good, but is inclined to rot.

I prefer hilltop having a drift soil, but the subsoil is of more importance than the surface soil. I prefer a north or northeast aspect. I prefer two-year-old, medium-sized trees, clear of root aphis, set in a dead furrow, with peach trees between north and south. I cultivate my trees six years after planting, with a plow and five-tooth one-horse cultivator. Plant the young orchard to corn; cease cropping after six or seven years, and then seed down to clover. Windbreaks are essential; would make them by planting one to six rows of Osage orange, red cedar or catalpas all around the orchard. The boys hunt the rabbits with shot-guns. I wash the trees with a carbolic-acid wash for borers. I prune with a knife and saw to balance the top, keep down watersprouts, and to get rid of useless wood. I think it pays and is beneficial, as it shades the body of the tree and keeps off the flathead borers. I do not thin the fruit. Can see no difference whether trees are in blocks of one variety, or mixed plantings. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter all over the ground, and wood ashes around the trees, but do not believe it pays, and would not advise it on all soils; any soil that is suitable for an orchard will not need enriching until after it ceases to be profitable. I pasture my orchard with hogs and calves; I think it advisable under certain conditions, and find it pays. My trees are troubled with root aphis, roundhead borers and buffalo tree-crickets; and my apples with codling-moth. I do not spray. I pick my apples by hand, from a ladder, into a sack with a strap over the shoulder. I sell the bulk of my apples in the orchard, from piles, at wholesale and retail; sell the grocers and fruit dealers what are left of my best apples. Make cider of the second and third grades of apples. Feed the culls to the hogs. My best market is in Topeka. Never tried distant markets. Do not dry any. I store some apples for winter in bulk, in boxes and in barrels in a cellar. I have to repack stored apples before marketing. Apples have been about forty cents a bushel in the orchard for the last ten years.

E. Higgins, Seabrook, Shawnee county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-six years; have an apple orchard of 250 trees twenty-five years old. For market I prefer Winesap, Jonathan, Maiden's Blush, Smith's Cider, and Ben Davis; for family orchard, Winesap, Jonathan, Maiden's Blush, Red June, and Grimes's Golden Pippin. Have tried and discarded Kansas Keeper on account of blight. I prefer hilltop; best below lime rock, with a northeast slope. I prefer two-year-old, low-headed trees, set thirty feet each way. I plant to corn for four years, then cease cropping, and seed to clover. I have a windbreak on the south side made of Osage orange, to keep the hot winds off. I prune lightly to thin out some of the middle branches; I think it pays. I do not thin my fruit. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter, and plow it under. I think it beneficial, and would advise its use on all soils. I sow my orchard to oats, and pasture with hogs with rings in their noses; they live on the oats, and don't hurt the trees, but with the help of the chickens they keep the canker-worms off. My trees are troubled with round- and flathead borers. I do not spray. I hand-pick my apples; sort into two classes—shipping and cider. I sell my apples in the home market; sell second and third grades to the cider-mills. Never tried distant markets. I do not dry any. I am successful in storing apples in bulk in a cellar; find Winesap to keep best. Prices have been from fifty to sixty cents per bushel. I employ young men at seventeen dollars per month.

J. C. Beckley, Spring Hill, Johnson county: I have lived in the state thirty years; have an apple orchard of 130 trees, twenty-eight years old and large for their age. For a commercial orchard I prefer Ben Davis, Jonathan, and Missouri Pippin; and for family use Early Harvest, Maiden's Blush, Jonathan, and Winesap. I have tried and discarded Smith's Cider, Talman (Sweet), Rambo, Fameuse, Willow Twig, White Winter Pearmain, Roman Stem, Dominie, Fallawater, Wagener, Baldwin, and White Pippin, because they mature too soon, fall off and rot long before it is time to pick them. I prefer hilltop with a dark mulatto soil and a clay subsoil, with a western aspect. I prefer two-year-old trees, with plenty of fibrous roots, and a well-developed top, set forty by forty feet. I cultivate my orchard till it is six or seven years old with a common plow and harrow. In a young orchard I plant potatoes, corn, pumpkins, melons, and garden-truck; I cease cropping after eight or nine years, and seed bearing orchard to clover. Windbreaks are not essential, unless on the south and north sides; would make them of cedar or evergreens. I would not make a windbreak at all. For rabbits I wrap the trees. When hunting borers I take knife and chisel and pare all gum and dirt off of the roots; then I cut wherever I see signs of a borer until I get him, and if he has gone too deep to cut out I take a No. 20 wire six or eight inches long, bend a very small hook on one end, and run it up in the hole he has made, and ninety-nine times out of 100 pull him out. When done put some alkali of some kind around the tree, such as lime, ashes, or soft soap; then cover up.

I prune with a saw or knife, cutting out the crossed limbs and shaping the top. I think it pays while the trees are young. I never thin the fruit while on the trees. My trees are in mixed plantings. I fertilize my orchard with stable and hog manure; I think it very beneficial, and advise its use on all soils, especially on old orchards. I pasture my orchard with hogs, and think it advisable at times. It pays. My trees are troubled with canker-worms, roundhead borers, and leaf rollers, and my apples with codling-moths. I have never sprayed, but intend to this spring, in April and May. I am going to use a dust sprayer with London purple and Paris green for canker-worm. I pick my apples by hand from a ladder into a sack, sort into two classes by hand, pack in a two-bushel crate, fill full, with blossom end up, mark with the grade, and ship to market-place by freight. I retail apples in the orchard; sell my best ones in crates; feed the culls to hogs. Best market is at home; never tried distant markets. We sun-dry some apples for home use, then heat on the stove and put into paper sacks. I am quite successful in storing apples in bulk, boxes and barrels in a cellar. Ben Davis, Winesap and Little Romanite keep best. Sometimes I have to repack stored apples before marketing, losing about one per cent. of them. Prices have been about sixty cents per bushel, and dried apples five to six cents; evaporated apples, seven to eight cents.

Albert Perry, Troy, Doniphan county: Have lived in Kansas forty-one years; have an apple orchard of 5000 trees, planted from five to twenty-four years. I grow for commercial purposes, first, Jonathan; second, Ben Davis, York Imperial, and Mammoth Black Twig. Ten years hence those who now plant Ben Davis will probably regret it. [?] There is a growing demand for a better eating apple. I now plant Jonathans and York Imperial. The latter is a good bearer, and a vigorous tree, however aged. For family orchard, I would advise adding to these Rambo and Fall Strawberry [Chenango]. I have tried and discarded many others. Prefer bottom, loess formation, near Missouri river. No slope has any advantage over another. Cultivate with plow and harrow, growing corn as an orchard crop for five years; then seed to clover and blue grass only. Do not care for windbreaks. Where there are windbreaks apples on trees do not get sufficient air. I protect from rabbits by tying corn-stalks about young trees. Prune some. I believe all apple blossoms are self-pollinating, and there is no advantage in mixed plantings. Need no fertilizers but clover in my locality. Believe it pays to pasture the orchard with horses in the winter; if you have a stack of hay for them to go to they will not harm the trees. Am troubled with codling-moth and apple curculio. Spray for codling-moth ten days after the apple is formed, and believe I have reduced their number. I use the knife for borers. Pick in baskets; deliver to packers in orchard. The aphis appears to do no particular injury to tree or fruit. Burn fall web-worm with a coal-oil torch. Sort into number one, fancy, number two, fair but defective in shape, color, or otherwise, and culls. Pack in three-bushel barrels, pressed so they will not shake. Sell firsts in orchard; sell seconds in car lots in bulk; sell culls in bulk for cider or vinegar. My best market is in the orchard. Have tried consigning to distant markets, but it did not pay. Have stored second grades for winter in boxes and barrels and in bulk, and made it pay. Ben Davis, Winesap and Rawle's Janet kept best. We sort and lose about one-fifth of the second grade only. Prices have run from $1 to $1.50 per barrel, of late years, in the orchard. For help in care of orchard I use men. In picking season I use all kinds of help. No experts. Pay from $1 to $1.50 per day.

J. H. Roach, Lowemont, Leavenworth county: Have been in Kansas forty-two years. Have an apple orchard of 5500 trees; 800 planted thirty years, 1200 planted thirteen years, and 3500 planted three years. For commercial purposes I prefer Jonathan, Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Winesap, and Willow Twig. For family use I prefer Jonathan, Huntsman's Favorite, and Winesap. I have discarded Yellow Bellflower, Rawle's Janet, and Russets. I prefer black loam with red gravel subsoil, hilltop with extreme north slope, no matter how steep. I plant thrifty two-year-old trees, thirty-three feet apart each way, except Missouri Pippin, which may be closer. Cultivate up to twelve years of age; grow corn until seven, then clover two years; then corn one year, after that clover with a little timothy, to keep the weeds down. I cease cropping the clover when the orchard is from twelve to fourteen years old. I consider windbreaks harmful. Any good axle grease or "dope" will keep off rabbits. I trim until five years old with a pocket-knife, to give shape and stout branches. I believe fertilizers are beneficial, put on every second or third year. I pasture my bearing orchard with horses and cattle, after the fruit is gathered until the 1st of January; think it is advisable and a benefit; allow no hogs in at any time. Am bothered some with borers and codling-moth. Have never tried spraying, but would advise it. We pick in sacks fastened over the shoulder with a snap and ring. Usually sell in the orchard. Have tried artificial cold storage satisfactorily, and think it the most reasonable plan. Prices have ranged from $1 to $1.50 per barrel, for firsts and seconds, in the orchard. I employ men at seventy cents per day.

A. D. Arnold, Longford, Clay county: Have lived in Kansas twenty years. Have 300 apple trees, sixteen years planted, from ten to fifteen inches in diameter. Grow only Ben Davis, Winesap, and Missouri Pippin for all purposes. I prefer bottom land in this locality, sandy loam with a northern aspect. Plant two-year, stocky trees, with a low top. I cultivate with the plow and disc, and grow no crop in the orchard. I believe a windbreak of box-elder or evergreens is beneficial but not essential. I prune very little, using my knife with judgment. I use stable litter as a mulch, and think it pays. I never pasture my orchard. Have few insects but codling-moth. I shade the body of the tree to keep borers out, and dig them out if any get in. I use ladders, and pick into baskets, and sort into two classes—perfect and imperfect. My trees have never borne a full crop, only enough for home use and the neighbors. We have had several dry seasons, causing the fruit to fall badly.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 30×40 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.

W. D. Kern, Baldwin, Douglas county: I have resided in Kansas thirty-nine years. Have an apple orchard of 775 trees four years old. For market I prefer Missouri Pippin, Ben Davis, and Willow Twig, and for family orchard Yellow Transparent, Maiden's Blush, and Jonathan. I prefer a loose, porous subsoil on a north slope. I prefer one- or two-year-old trees, set twenty-two feet apart north and south and thirty-three feet east and west. I plant my orchard to corn, potatoes, and clover, and keep up the cultivation until they are bearing well, using a diamond plow and one-horse cultivator. I never cease cropping. Windbreaks are not essential, but if they were I should make them of four or five rows of maple or some quick-growing trees, on the south and west sides of the orchard. For rabbits I use wooden tree wrappers, and dig the borers out. I prune to give the tree shape and let in the sun; I think it pays, as it keeps the tree from overbearing. I do not thin the fruit while on the trees, but think it would pay. I fertilize my orchard with barn-yard litter, and would advise it on all soils when it needs it. I pasture my orchard with hogs; I think it advisable, and that it pays. My trees are troubled with canker-worms, tent-caterpillars, borers, tree-hoppers, and leaf-rollers, and my apples with codling-moth and curculio. I do not spray. I hand-pick my apples into buckets and sacks from step-ladders. I sell my apples in the orchard at wholesale. I sell the best to shippers, and the second and third grades the best way I can. I sell or feed the culls to the stock. Never tried distant markets. I do not dry any. Some years I am successful in storing apples in barrels and boxes in a cellar. Winesap and Missouri Pippin keep best. I never tried artificial cold storage. I have to repack stored apples before marketing, losing about one-fourth of them. I do not irrigate. Prices have been from sixty cents to one dollar per eleven-peck barrel. I employ men at ten cents per hour.

James Sharp, Morris county: Have been in Kansas twenty-eight years. Have an orchard in Morris county of 8000 trees, planted from two to thirteen years. I grow for market Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Jonathan, and York Imperial; would add for family Early Harvest, Maiden's Blush, and Winesap. Have tried and discarded Yellow Bellflower, Lawver, Willow Twig, and Smith's Cider; the former is barren, the others blight. I prefer second bottom with northeast slope; soil loose, black loam, with red clay subsoil. I plant in furrows each way, 16×30 feet, running a subsoiler in the furrows, and use straight, smooth, two-year-old trees. Have tried root grafts, but they need nursery care at first. I cultivate at all ages, while young with plow, and old orchard with reversible disc. I grow corn in young orchard, and after five or six years keep the ground bare with the disc. I think windbreaks essential, and use Osage orange, elm, ash, Austrian pine, and cedars. Catch the rabbits; and cultivate well as a protection from borers. Do not prune much; take out a little brush if necessary to more readily reach the fruit. Never have thinned apples. Have never fertilized, and am decidedly opposed to pasturing orchards with any kind of stock. Am troubled with canker-worm, tent-caterpillar, flathead borer, woolly aphis, twig-borer, fall web-worm, leaf-roller, leaf-crumbler, and codling-moth. Spray regularly with London purple; cannot say it has reduced the codling-moth any; for borers I keep my trees thrifty by constant cultivation. We pick in candy pails, but find it bruises the fruit too much. I sort by hand in three classes, commercial size Nos. 1 and 2, and culls. I pack in three-bushel barrels, stenciled with name of variety and grower, and ship by freight. Sell any way I can; have never sold in the orchard; sell culls for apple-butter, and make some cider; have marketed at good prices at Pueblo, Colo.; have never dried any for market. I store some for winter in boxes, barrels and in bulk in a cellar, and find that Ben Davis and Missouri Pippin keep best. I usually have to sort over those kept through, and lose perhaps one-fifth. Have never irrigated. My average returns are about fifty cents per bushel. For help I use men at one dollar per day.

James Wilson, Assaria, Saline county: Lived in Kansas twenty years; has an orchard of five acres, twenty-three years planted. For commerce he uses Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, and Jonathan, and for family use would add Maiden's Blush, Grimes's Golden Pippin, and Rawle's Janet. Has discarded Rambo as too shy a bearer. Prefers light soil, with a heavy subsoil in the bottom, with a southern slope. Plants thirty feet apart each way. Grows no crop in orchard, and cultivates with stirring plow and cultivator until the trees completely shade the ground. Believes windbreaks necessary, and would plant box-elder, three feet apart, in rows three feet apart, so as to shut out all wind. Binds with corn-stalks to protect against rabbits. Prunes by cutting off lower limbs and thinning center; says it is beneficial, and makes fruit larger and of better color. Thins apples on trees when the size of marbles, and believes it pays. On pollination he says: "I had one tree that stood alone, and never bore fruit until I got honey-bees; then it bore all right." Uses no fertilizers. Allows no live stock in the orchard. Has sprayed just after the blossom fell, with London purple and Bordeaux mixture, for the last five years, and it has reduced codling-moth. Uses knife and soap-suds for borers. Picks and sorts into three classes—sound and big, medium and affected, and culls. Sells in orchard and in Salina; makes vinegar and hog feed of culls. Never shipped any apples. Stores for winter by burying in bulk, and is successful. The Missouri Pippin and Rawle's Janet keep best. Prices from fifty to seventy-five cents per bushel. Uses boys from fourteen to twenty years of age for help, and pays fifty cents to one dollar per day with board.

J. W. Williams, Holton, Jackson county: I have lived in the state forty years; have an apple orchard of 225 trees of various ages, the oldest being thirty-nine years. For market I prefer Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Winesap, and Jonathan; and for a family orchard Red Astrachan, Early Harvest, Dominie, Lowell, and Winesap. Have tried thirty varieties and discarded all excepting the above mentioned. I prefer a rich soil with a porous subsoil and a north slope; can see little difference between hilltop and bottom orchards. I prefer two-year-old trees, with symmetrical form, for setting; when planting I trim all affected roots and prune lightly; set them inclined to the southwest. I cultivate my orchard as long as it lives with a plow and harrow—plow shallow; plant the young orchard to potatoes, beans, vines, and sometimes corn, using a one-horse diamond plow, and am careful to harrow afterward. I cease cropping six or seven years after setting, and plant a bearing orchard to red clover. I think windbreaks are essential; would make them of most any kind of rapid-growing trees planted in groves on the east and south sides of the orchard. For rabbits I wrap the trees, and dig the borers out. I prune with a penknife to keep the trees in good shape. It pays if properly done, and is not too severe. I have thinned my fruit by hand when of the size of hickory-nuts. Think trees do best in mixed plantings. I fertilize my orchard with barn-yard litter and ashes; I think it beneficial, and would advise its use on all soils. I pasture my orchard with hogs part of a day at a time when the apples fall badly. Don't let them in at will. I think it pays and is advisable, for they destroy the moth. My trees are troubled with both round- and flathead borers, and my apples with codling-moth. I spray, using a hand sprayer, with Bordeaux mixture and London purple, when the blossom falls, for codling-moth and curculio. It has not been beneficial. I burn the [tent] caterpillars. I pick my apples by hand in a sack over the shoulder, and sort into three classes—first, finest; second, fair; third, culls. I sort from the ground or a table. I sell apples in the orchard, wholesale and retail, and have no trouble in selling my first-grade apples. I sell and make cider of the second and third grades, and also dry some of them. Feed the culls to hogs or other stock. My best market is at home. We dry some in a common dry-house which is very satisfactory; after they are dry we put them into sacks to keep from millers; we find a market for them, but it does not pay well. I am fairly successful in storing apples on shallow shelves in the cellar; Winesap and Rawle's Janet keep best. I do not irrigate. Apples have been about fifty cents per bushel, and dried apples three to five cents per pound.

Andrew Swanson, Dwight, Morris county: I have resided in Kansas seventeen years, and have an apple orchard of 1800 trees eight years old, eight to ten feet tall. For market I prefer Winesap, Ben Davis, and Missouri Pippin; and for family orchard would add Jonathan and Maiden's Blush. I have tried and discarded Rome Beauty, Huntsman's Favorite, and Minkler. I do not like them. I have upland, with a poor soil and a gumbo subsoil, with a north and east aspect. I prefer two-year-old trees, set thirty feet apart each way. I cultivate my orchard with a stirring plow, and intend to keep it up as long as I live; plant corn or any cultivated crop in the young orchard, and cease when there is no room; plant nothing in the bearing orchard. I think a hedge fence all around the orchard as a windbreak would be beneficial. For rabbits, I wrap the trees with wire screening, and leave it on. I prune my trees every winter, or when I have time, to thin the top and to give shape; I think it pays, and is very beneficial. I do not thin my fruit—the wind does that for me. I fertilize my orchard, and think it beneficial, and would advise it on all soils. I do not pasture my orchard; it is not advisable and does not pay. My trees are troubled with leaf-rollers and other insects. I give the culls to hogs. I am successful in storing apples in bulk in an arched cellar; Winesap, Ben Davis and Missouri Pippin keep best. I never tried artificial cold storage. I do not irrigate. Price has been seventy-five cents per bushel; dried apples eight to ten cents per pound.

F. B. Harris, White City, Morris county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-five-years, and have an orchard of 800 trees, planted from ten to fifteen years ago. For commercial purposes I prefer Maiden's Blush, Cooper's Early White, Ben Davis, Winesap, and Missouri Pippin. For a family orchard I would put out the same, adding Red June, Jonathan, and Smith's Cider. I have discarded the Willow Twig, as it rots too easily. I prefer hilltop, north slope, soil as deep as possible, and a gumbo subsoil. Would plant two-year-old trees with perfect crown growth, twenty feet north and south, thirty feet east and west. My last planting, ten years ago, was of root grafts, and I like it first rate. I grow corn in the orchard for about ten years, then nothing. I cultivate thoroughly, plowing until the soil is doubled, and then use the disc pulverizer. I believe windbreaks to be very, very, very essential, and would make of Osage orange on the outside, and any quick-growing forest-tree next to the orchard. For protection against rabbits, I tie with weeds and twine. I prune with a jackknife, a two-inch thin-bladed chisel, and mallet. It does pay, and is beneficial until the trees are ten years old. I tried thinning, but it proved more injury than profit. I use all the fertilizer from stables and stock-yards that I can get, spread all over the ground, and believe it would pay on any soil. I would allow no live stock in the orchard but poultry, and would not allow them to roost in the trees.

I have some trouble with tent-caterpillars, roundheaded borers, fall web-worm, and curculio. I spray with London purple, first when the bloom falls, then every ten days until three times, with a spray pump, using London purple. I do not know whether I have reduced the codling-moth any or not. I treat the borers with penknife and probe, others with rough handling—eternal, vigilant destruction. I pick from step-ladders into pails; place in sack to haul to the barn or shed. We sort into two classes—first, all sound and marketable, second for cider. I sort by hand from the pile, three or four bushels at a time. We pack in bushel-and-a-half sacks, filled from the half-bushel measure, mark with the name of variety, and haul to market in spring wagon. I retail and peddle them, making the culls into cider and vinegar. My best market is our nearest town; tried distant market last fall and it paid. We dry some, pack into tight boxes as soon as dried and store in dark place, and find a ready market at the stores at six cents per pound. It does not pay very well, but saves waste. I only store for family use, in headless barrels; generally keep well. Ben Davis keeps the best. We lose from one-fourth to one-half. I believe irrigation would be a good thing. Prices have been from thirty-five cents to seventy-five cents per bushel. Use only home help.

M. D. Weltner, Westmoreland, Pottawatomie county: Have been in Kansas eighteen years. Planted 800 apple trees ten years ago. I do not own this orchard at present. I planted Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Winesap, Jonathan, and Maiden's Blush. I prefer sandy or black loam, with clay subsoil, bottom land or gentle slope to the north. I set good, thrifty, clean, two-year-old trees. I thoroughly plow my ground, then run a lister for the row, and throw out with spade or shovel where the trees are to go. I cultivate with potatoes and corn, using the plow, harrow, and five-tooth cultivator, until ten or twelve years old, then sow to clover. I use no windbreaks. For rabbits I wrap with building paper or wire screen. I believe it pays to prune with the knife and saw a little each year, to train the tree to grace, beauty, and profit. I never tried thinning fruit. Would fertilize with a little stable litter spread over the ground. Never would pasture an orchard. Had some canker-worm and curculio, but never tried spraying. I pick from a step-ladder into a shoulder sack.

V. E. Hathaway, Council Grove, Morris county: Have lived in Kansas thirty years; have an orchard of 1000 trees two to twelve inches in diameter. Have tried and discarded Willow Twig and Smith's Cider on account of blight. I prefer a gravel or clay bottom with northern slope. I prefer healthy trees set forty by twenty feet. I cultivate my orchard to corn until too large, plowing very shallow. Windbreaks are beneficial; would make them of cedar. I prune by cutting out the inner limbs that rub; I think it pays. I do not thin the fruit on the trees. I sometimes fertilize with stable litter; would advise its use on all soils. I do not pasture my orchard; do not think it advisable. My trees are troubled with canker-worm, and my fruit by codling-moth. I spray just after the blooms fall with London purple, and think I have reduced the codling-moth. I dig out insects not affected by spraying. I pick my fruit from inside of tree from a ladder. Sort into three classes. Pack in apple barrels, pressed down, and marked with the quality; then transport to market on a wagon. I wholesale, retail, and peddle; sometimes sell in the orchard. Feed the culls to hogs. My best market is at home; never tried distant markets. Do not dry any. I store apples in boxes or barrels, and am successful. I find Missouri Pippin, Winesap and Ben Davis keep best. We have to repack stored apples before marketing, and lose about one-eighth or one-tenth. I do not irrigate. Prices have been from fifty cents to one dollar per bushel.

S. Marty, Longford, Clay county: Have lived in Kansas twenty-eight years; have an apple orchard of 200 trees from seven to fifteen years old, eight to ten inches in diameter. Have tried and discarded Grimes's Golden Pippin and Willow Twig. I prefer sandy bottom, loam soil, with a north or northeast aspect. I prefer two-year-old, low, stocky trees, set in rows thirty-six feet each way. Have tried root grafts with very good success. I cultivate my trees eight years; first four to potatoes, using a disc harrow; plow shallow among young trees; plant nothing in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of Osage orange and box-elder on both south and west sides of the orchard. I trap and shoot the rabbits. I prune very little; only cut out the branches that interfere. I fertilize my orchard with barn-yard litter; I think it beneficial. I do not pasture my orchard; do not think it advisable. Do not spray. Sort into two classes: good and bad.

J. L. Steele, Minneapolis, Ottawa county: Have lived in Kansas fourteen years. Have 200 apple trees from six to twelve years old. I prefer bottom land with sandy loam and similar subsoil, north slope. I plant two-year-old trees branched near the ground, in deep furrows made by plow. Have tried root grafts with good success. I cultivate with corn and potatoes, using disc and harrow all the time; plant nothing in bearing orchard; cease cropping when about eight or ten years old. Windbreaks are essential, on the south; would make them of honey-locust, two or three feet apart in the row. I wrap the tree with corn-stalks to protect from rabbits. Have not been troubled with borers. I only prune out the limbs that interfere with others. Never thin apples. I fertilize with stable litter, and think it beneficial; would advise its use on all soils. I do not pasture my orchard; it does not pay. My trees are troubled with canker-worm. I spray with London purple when the worms first begin their work, to kill leaf-eating insects; do not think I have reduced the codling-moth. I irrigate with a 4¹/₂-inch-cylinder pump and well.

J. C. Campbell, Campbell, Washington county: Have lived in Kansas fifteen years; have 250 trees from three to fourteen years old, eight to twelve inches in diameter. I prefer for family orchard Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Winesap, and Rawle's Janet. I prefer hilltop with deep soil and red subsoil, and an eastern slope. I prefer three-year-old trees, set 24×30 feet, as deep as they were in the nursery. I cultivate in buckwheat for eight years with the plow; after that plant nothing. Windbreaks are essential on the southwest or north and south; would make them of Osage orange; plant them forty feet distant and do not trim. For rabbits I wrap with corn-stalks and leave them on summer and winter. I prune with a saw; then cover the wound with wax; I think it beneficial. Have never thinned fruit. Never use fertilizer; do not think it advisable. Do not pasture my orchard; would not advise it. My trees are affected with twig-borer and leaf-roller. The codling-moth troubles my apples. I do not spray. I pick my apples early and leave them in piles in the orchard until cold weather.

William Young, Brantford, Washington county: Have lived in Kansas twenty-one years. Have 200 apple trees, five to twenty-five years planted, four to twelve inches in diameter. I prefer for commercial orchard Winesap, Ben Davis, and Rawle's Janet. I prefer bottom land, with black loam and clay subsoil. I prefer three-year-old trees, good, smooth bark, and three or four branches. Have tried root grafts and seedlings with good success. I cultivate in corn, using plow for thirteen years; plow toward the trees one year, then away the next. Windbreaks are essential, and I would make them of cottonwood, box-elder or catalpa planted in rows on the north side. Am not troubled with rabbits or borers. I prune with a saw and knife, to produce better fruit; I think it beneficial. I fertilize with stable litter and wood ashes; I would advise its use on all soils. I pasture my orchard with hogs; think it advisable, and that it pays. My trees are troubled some with insects; codling-moth troubles my apples. I pick my apples by hand into a basket, then sort and put in the cellar. I sort into two classes, good and bad; we sort as we pick them. I sell my apples at home and in town, sometimes in orchard; retail, wholesale, or peddle. Make cider for vinegar of culls. My best market is Clifton; never tried distant markets. Never dry any. I store some for winter market in thin layers on shelves, in cellar seven feet deep, and find the Winesap keeps best. Prevailing price has been eighty cents.

H. E. Penny, Hiawatha, Brown county: Have lived in Kansas twenty-eight years. Have 1800 apple trees—600 planted fifteen years, 1200 planted ten years. Grow nothing but Ben Davis. Planted two-year-old trees, twenty-four by thirty feet, on a southern slope. Cultivate in corn for ten years and then sow to clover. I prune only to keep the watersprouts from bothering the tree. I believe fertilizing pays, although I have not tried it. I never allow any stock but poultry in the orchard. I spray after the bloom has fallen, and ten days later, with Paris green, to destroy the codling-moth. We sort out only one grade, allowing the culls to rot. We pack in three-bushel barrels, and usually sell in the orchard at wholesale. Our best market is Minneapolis, Minn., but I have not made shipping pay. I have tried artificial cold storage; they did not keep satisfactorily, I do not know why. I had to repack, and lost over twenty per cent. Prices have varied from 75 cents to $1.50 per barrel. For help, I use boys at fifty cents to seventy-five cents per day.

J. D. Hazen, Leona, Doniphan county: Have been in Kansas forty years; have an apple orchard of 13,200 trees; 10,000 have been planted fourteen years, and 3200 for two years. I would plant nothing but Ben Davis for commercial purposes. For the family orchard I would add Winesap, Jonathan, and Rawle's Janet. Prefer rather high land, well underdrained, with a northeast slope. I plant good two-year-old trees, in rows two rods apart east and west, and the trees one rod apart in the row north and south. I grow corn or potatoes for six years, then seed down to clover. I cultivate the trees while young with a small one-horse plow. I think windbreaks essential on the south and west sides; Osage orange is good, set the same as for a fence, and allowed to grow tall. I wrap my trees against rabbits, and try all ways to destroy them. I prune with the saw to get the trees up so I can get around them, and believe it pays, or I would not do it. Have been at it fifteen years, and see no harm. Don't think it would pay to thin apples on the trees. I believe it is better to mix varieties in the orchard; I have 7000 Ben Davis and 300 Winesaps in one orchard, and where the Winesaps are mixed with the Davis the trees are always fuller. I believe fertilizing would be good, but my orchard is too large to practice it. I pasture with horses in the spring, and believe it does no harm, and that it pays.

Canker-worm is my worst insect pest, and I have been spraying for many years, using one pound of London purple to 160 gallons of water. I spray when the blossoms fall, using a big tank and a small engine to pump. I cannot say that I have reduced the codling-moth any by spraying. I cut borers out. I sort into two classes, No. 1's and No. 2's, bests and second bests; best ones go into firsts, and those that are not rotten in No. 2. I have a table, or what I call a culler; the apples are picked and put into these cullers; I have twelve men to each culler and a boss over them. They stand and cull the apples. I have the cullers numbered, so if any one puts up bad apples I can catch him. I use barrels for the No. 1's; fill and press so they will not shake. I put them up in good shape, and sell at wholesale to the first buyer that comes. I ship my culls and second-grade apples to western Kansas and to Nebraska in cars in bulk. I never send to commission men. I have never tried drying, or storing apples for winter. For family use I put away some in barrels, and keep the above varieties successfully. Prices, last year, two dollars per barrel; a year ago, one dollar per barrel; two years ago, $1.50 per barrel. I use any help I can get, paying seventy five cents per day and board.

J. B. Avery, Clifton, Washington county: Have lived in Kansas twenty-eight years; have an apple orchard of 1500 trees, from five to fourteen years planted, three to fifteen inches in diameter. For planting I prefer two-year-old whips. I cultivate my orchard to potatoes or any hoed crop, when it is first planted; keep this up as long as the roots and branches will admit. I have used a disc and common drag harrow for the last three years. I plant my bearing orchard to clover. I prune my trees with a pruning knife and saw when necessary. I fertilize my orchard with thoroughly rotted stable litter. I think it beneficial and would advise its use on all soils. I have pastured eight acres of my orchard with calves; have not seen any injury. I sort my apples into three classes—first, second, and culls. I sell my apples to neighbors, restaurants, stores, etc. The culls I dry, make cider, feed to pigs, and give away. Clifton is my best market; have never tried distant markets. I store some in boxes, barrels and sacks in a cellar.

T. S. Anderson, Oneida, Nemaha county: Have been in Kansas twenty-seven years; have an orchard of 1000 trees fifteen years old, ten to eighteen inches in diameter. Prefer for market Ben Davis and Winesap; for family use, many kinds. Have discarded Rawle's Janet, Early Pennock, Bellflower, and Russets. I prefer limestone soil; bottom land with northern slope. I plant two-year-old, straight-bodied, thrifty looking, live trees. I cultivate in corn, with riding plow, for six years, and then seed to grass. I believe a windbreak is essential, and would make it of Osage orange, maple, or cottonwood. I prevent rabbits and borers by painting with ashes and lime. I prune with saw and knife to make larger apples, and give them better color, and think it pays. I do not thin, and would put fertilizer from the barn-yard on the land. I pasture my orchard with cattle and hogs, but do not think it advisable. I am troubled some with canker-worm, tent-caterpillar, root aphis, borers, codling-moth, and curculio, but do not spray. I gather only the best by hand, and put them immediately in a bin in the cellar. I sell to stores, use plenty at home, make cider, and feed the hogs on culls. My best market is Seneca, Kan. Have never tried drying apples. I store for winter on shallow shelves, six inches deep and two feet wide, in a dry cellar, and keep them successfully; Ben Davis and Winesap keep the best. Prices have ranged from twenty-five to seventy-five cents per bushel. I use common laborers, and pay from one to two dollars per day.

Howard Morton, Tescott, Ottawa county: I have lived in Kansas thirty-two years; I have twenty old apple trees and 400 set two years ago. I prefer Ben Davis, Gano and York Imperial for market, and Maiden's Blush, Early Harvest and Winesap for family use. My orchard is in a bottom with a north slope. I plant two-year-olds with a fair amount of large roots, in furrows made with a lister, and enlarged with a spade where necessary. I cultivate with a disc harrow as long as possible, and grow nothing on the ground among the trees. I believe windbreaks are essential, and would make them by planting Osage orange, Russian mulberry and box-elders in rows six feet apart. I do not prune much; only thin out inside shoots to prevent contact. I believe it pays to thin the fruit some when the apples are perhaps half grown. I use no fertilizers. I do not pasture my orchard. I spray a little before the buds swell, after the blossoms fall, and two weeks later, with Bordeaux mixture, to prevent wormy apples. I dig out borers with a jack-knife and a small wire.

I. N. Macy, Longford, Clay county: Have lived in Kansas fifteen years; have 150 apple trees nine years old, from fifteen to eighteen feet high. For family orchard prefer Ben Davis, Winesap, and Jonathan. I prefer bottom land. I plant two-year-old trees. I cultivate in corn for the shade as long as there is room, using the plow, cultivator, and harrow, and cease cropping when trees shade the ground. Windbreaks are beneficial on the south. I prune to balance the top and prevent the limbs from chafing; I think it beneficial. I never thin apples. I fertilize my orchard with barn-yard litter, keeping my ground as rich as a garden, and would advise its use on all soils. I never pasture my orchard; it is sure death to it; allow nothing larger than chickens in it. I spray only for canker-worms, using Paris green and lime, when in bloom; am successful. I do not irrigate.

A. C. Griesa, Lawrence, Douglas county: I have lived in Kansas thirty years. For market I prefer Ben Davis, Gano, Jonathan, and Missouri Pippin, and, for a family orchard, the leading medium early and late sorts. I prefer upland or second bottom with a clay subsoil; all slopes, if well drained, are good, excepting south. I prefer good two-year-old trees, set in land laid off with a plow. I plant my orchard to corn for four years and use an eight-tooth cultivator; cease cropping when the trees are four or six inches in diameter; plant clover in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are not essential in this locality. For rabbits I wrap the trees, and dig the borers out. I prune when the trees are young to thin the top; I think it beneficial and that it pays. I do not thin the fruit while on the trees, but would advise doing so when the fruit is one-third grown. I fertilize my orchard with barn-yard litter, and would advise its use, especially on uplands. I do not pasture my orchard; do not think it advisable; it does not pay. My trees are troubled with canker-worm, root aphis, flathead and roundhead borers, and woolly aphis; and my apples with codling-moth. I do not spray, but would advise it. I am sure it would reduce the codling-moth. I hand-pick my apples in a sack over the shoulder.

A. G. Axelton, Randolph, Riley county: I have lived in Kansas forty years; have an apple orchard of 300 trees eighteen years old, sixteen feet high. For a family orchard I prefer Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Winesap, and Maiden's Blush. I prefer black bottom land with a clay subsoil, and a northern slope. For planting I prefer two-year-old, straight, smooth trees. I cultivate my orchard till the trees begin to bear, with a cultivator and hogs, planting nothing. Windbreaks are not essential. For rabbits I wrap the trees with paper. I do not prune my trees, nor thin the fruit while on the trees. I do not fertilize. I pasture my orchard with hogs at certain times in the spring when worthless apples are dropping. My trees are troubled with canker-worm and tent-caterpillar. I do not spray. I pick my apples by hand and carry them to the cellar. I do not store any apples for winter market.

C. H. Taylor, Eskridge, Wabaunsee county: Have lived in Kansas thirty-eight years. Have 1400 apple trees, five to fifteen years old, six to twelve inches in diameter. For market I grow Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, and Jonathan; for family orchard I would advise Winesap, Rawle's Janet, Cooper's Early White, Maiden's Blush, and Jonathan; and I would discard nearly all others. I prefer bottom land, with black loam and open subsoil, north slope. Would plant one- or two-year-old, low-top trees, twenty-five feet apart each way. I have grown root grafts with success. I shall cultivate as long as the trees live, growing corn among them until the growth of the trees prevents it. I believe all the windbreak necessary is an ordinary fence. I use traps for the rabbits and a knife for the borers. I thin the fruit on the trees in the early summer, after they are well set. I believe barn-yard fertilizer beneficial to any orchard. I pasture my orchard with hogs, and think it advisable, and that it pays. I have some insects, but do not spray; I burn some. I pick by hand in half-bushel baskets; sort into two classes, market and cider; pack into barrels, and usually sell in the orchard at wholesale. Never shipped to a distant market. Do not dry any. Have stored some for winter in the cellar in bulk, and find that the Missouri Pippin, Winesap and Rawle's Janet keep the best. I do not irrigate. Price averages about twenty-five cents per bushel. I use ordinary farm hands at fifteen to twenty dollars per month.

Frank Seifert, Strawberry, Washington county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-eight years; have an apple orchard of 150 trees, from three to twenty years planted. For commercial purposes I prefer Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, and Winesap, and for family orchard would add Maiden's Blush. Have tried and discarded Willow Twig on account of blight. I prefer limestone upland with an eastern aspect. I prefer three-year-old trees for planting. I cultivate my orchard for eight or ten years with a plow and harrow. I seed bearing orchard to red clover. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of one row of box-elder and two rows of plums. I fertilize my orchard with straw and hay, and think it advisable, on all soils. I never pasture my orchard; it is not advisable. I do not spray. I pick my apples the old way. [?] Sell my apples in the orchard. I sometimes store for winter in bulk in an arched cellar, and am successful. I find the Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin and Winesap keep equally well. Prices have been from fifty to seventy-five cents per bushel.

J. T. Travis, Aurora, Cloud county: Have lived in Kansas twenty-six years; have an apple orchard of seventy-five trees from five to twenty years old. I prefer low land, black loam soil with clay subsoil, and a northern slope. I prefer two-year-old trees, straight, with no forks, the limbs low down, planted in furrows made by a plow. I cultivate my orchard as long as I can get through it, with potatoes and sweet corn, using a harrow often enough to keep weeds down and ground smooth. Cease cropping when the trees get too large for sweet corn to do any good. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of Russian mulberry, planted in two or three rows, eight to ten feet apart, on all sides of the orchard. I prune little, only enough to thin out the tops and keep limbs from rubbing each other, and to give light. I fertilize my old orchard with any kind of coarse stable litter; I pile it in heaps between the trees and let it lay until it rots. I pasture my orchard with hogs when it grows to wild rye and is too large for me to plow; I think it advisable only when the trees get foul; it pays if not pastured with too many and they are not kept on too long. My trees are troubled with leaf-roller, and my apples with codling-moth. I have sprayed, but only to a limited extent.

Sam Kimble, Manhattan, Riley county: Have been in Kansas thirty-eight years. Have an orchard of 2500 trees not yet in bearing. They have been planted three, four and five years. I have set out for market Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, and Winesap, and for family use about thirty kinds, in variety. I am located on upland, with clay subsoil, mainly northwest slope. I planted three-year-old trees, stocky and low headed, in holes twenty-five by thirty feet apart, getting on my knees to work the soil in about the roots. I crop to corn, cultivating well, and shall keep this up as long as three rows can be fairly grown between two rows of trees. I believe in plowing if you do not get too close to the trees. When my orchard comes into bearing I shall keep up the cultivation but grow no crop. I believe windbreaks are very desirable, and should make them of cottonwood, elms, or any quick-growing forest-trees. To keep off rabbits I tie on corn-stalks with binder twine. I prune carefully to shorten the heads and keep down watersprouts, and believe it beneficial. I believe thinning will pay when the fruit sets too thickly. I believe in lots of fertilization, and use all the stable litter I can get; I don't think you can use too much. I believe that young calves might be pastured to advantage in an old orchard. Have not sprayed any, and depend on rains for water.

J. B. Starns, Fairmount, Leavenworth county: Have lived in the state forty-one years; have 1800 apple trees, extra large, seventeen years old. Planted for market Ben Davis, Winesap, Jonathan, and Missouri Pippin; and for early use Early Harvest, Cooper's Early White, Maiden's Blush, and the Gennettan. Have discarded the Red June as too small and falling too badly. My ground is black loam upland, sloping north and east. I planted two-year-old trees in furrows made by the plow, twenty by thirty-two feet. Would cultivate in corn for five years, using the breaking-plow and cultivator; then sow to clover. Windbreaks are not necessary here. I trap the rabbits. For borers I bank around the trees in May, and take it away in September; this exposes the tree, and the borers are taken out easily with a knife. I prune some, and think it pays to take off watersprouts and shape the tree a little. Do not thin, and do not fertilize. I pasture in the spring and fall, after the apples are gathered, with pigs; it is an experiment. I have some tent-caterpillar, twig-borer, and codling-moth. Have never sprayed any. I pick in sacks and baskets, emptying into bushel boxes, which are hauled on wagons made for that purpose, to the place for packing. I make three grades: shippers, seconds, and cider or driers. The boxes are taken from the wagon and culled, and shippers packed in barrels; the rest are put in piles, which are afterward culled, and the seconds put by themselves. We mark barrels with name of variety, and haul to market on wagons made for the purpose. We often sell at wholesale in the orchard; we sell the seconds in bulk. My best market is Leavenworth; have never shipped any away. Have never dried any, and do not store any for winter. Prices have ranged from 50 cents to $1.75 per barrel. I use men only, and pay $1.50 per day.