Chapter M: A. WILSON, Atwood, Rawlins county: I have resided in the state

nineteen years; have an apple orchard of fifty trees ten years old, six inches in diameter. For all purposes I prefer Winesap and Ben Davis. I prefer bottom land with a dark loam and a clay subsoil, with a northern slope. I prefer two-year-old trees with good tops and stocky bodies, set in early spring, sixteen to twenty feet apart. I plant my orchard to corn, potatoes, and garden-truck, using a hoe and cultivator; have never ceased cropping. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of Russian mulberries planted twelve feet apart each way; trim and cultivate them. For rabbits I wrap the trees with rags or burlap cut in strips three or four inches wide; begin at the bottom and wind up; if the limbs are near the ground, wrap them, too. I prune with a small keyhole saw and shears to keep the tree hardy, and think it pays. I thin my apples when they are about half grown; it pays. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter; it has been beneficial, and would advise its use on all soils. Do not pasture my orchard. Trees are troubled with tent-caterpillar and flathead borer. I do not spray. I stand on a step-ladder and pick my apples, laying them in the baskets as carefully as though they were eggs. I sort into two classes--best, and second grade. I sell apples in the orchard; retail the best, second and third grades; use and sell the culls. Home is my best market. I do not dry or store any for winter market. I irrigate, lifting the water twenty feet by an elevator and horse power from creek. Prices have been from $1 to $1.60 per bushel. Dried apples, sixteen pounds for one dollar. I employ hands at from fifteen dollars to eighteen dollars per month.

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F. T. M. DUTCHER, Phillipsburg, Phillips county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-six years; have an apple orchard of 100 trees from eight to ten years old. For market I prefer Missouri Pippin, Ben Davis, and Winesap, and for family orchard Ben Davis and Winesap. I prefer a bottom which has a sandy soil and a clay subsoil, with a northeast slope. I set two-year-old trees in listed ditches. I plant my orchard to potatoes as long as possible; use a five-tooth cultivator; cease cropping when the trees shade the ground, and plant nothing in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are not essential. For rabbits I tie corn-stalks around the tree, leaving them on the year round. I prune my trees with a knife; think it beneficial, and that it pays. I thin apples, if necessary, as soon as established. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter, and would advise its use on all soils. I never pasture my orchard; do not think it advisable. My trees are troubled with borers, and my apples with curculio. I do not spray. I dig borers out. I make only one grade of my apples, and feed the culls to pigs, and use all the rest at home. I do not dry any. I irrigate a little; have a pond around the trees.

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