Chapter C: H. LONGSTRETH, Lakin, Kearny county: Have lived in Kansas twenty-nine

years. I have 3400 apple trees--500 eleven years old, 1200 eight years old, 700 six years old, and 1000 set this spring. For market I prefer Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, and Winesap. For family use I would advise Early Harvest, Red June, Maiden's Blush, Chenango Strawberry, Smith's Cider, Huntsman's Favorite, Rome Beauty, Jonathan, Ben Davis, Winesap, and Missouri Pippin. Have discarded the Red Astrachan, Willow Twig, and Cooper's Early White, as they will not bear. I prefer second bottom, not too high or too low; sandy loam, with loose clay subsoil; any slope is good, north preferred. I prefer small-sized, well rooted, two-year-old trees, planted with a spade, in deeply plowed, thoroughly prepared ground, and would cultivate until they die of old age. I use a sixteen-inch disc, Acme harrow, Thomas's smoothing harrow, and Barnes's weeder. I grow small fruit and vegetables among the trees until of bearing age. Would plant windbreaks of six or eight rows of North Carolina poplars, honey and black locust, Russian mulberry, white ash, and box-elder, one-year seedlings, two feet apart, in rows four feet apart, on the north and south side of orchard. For rabbits, I wrap my trees as soon as possible after planting. I prune with a knife to admit sun and air, and to keep down suckers and limbs that rub each other. I thin all through the season, taking out imperfect fruit as far as possible, and it pays. I don't think it necessary to mix varieties to insure fruitfulness, yet this spring I planted 1000 Missouri Pippins, filling every sixth row with Winesaps for a test. The varieties I have discarded as not bearing were thoroughly mixed in with other kinds. I would use no fertilizers unless on very thin soil, and then would prefer to use before planting. I use fertilizers after the trees come into bearing, but up to bearing age good, thorough cultivation in the early part of the season is all that I would give. I do not pasture orchards; it might be advisable to turn hogs in to eat up windfalls affected with codling-moth, but never any other stock.

Am troubled only with root aphis, codling-moth, and curculio. I spray right after the blossoms fall with London purple, for codling-moth, and have reduced them to a great extent. Have prevented borers by wrapping. I contemplate using kerosene emulsion on curculio and insects that I cannot reach with poison. I pick in canvas lined half-bushel baskets, and sort into firsts, seconds, and culls, carefully, by hand. I pack in boxes, if I can get them; have used barrels well shaken and pressed down, marked with stencil, and shipped by rail. Denver has been our best market thus far; sometimes I have sold most of my apples in the orchard; never have to peddle any. I feed the culls to my hogs. Never dry any, but think I will try it in the near future, as there is a good home market for a large part of them. Have stored a good many in cellar in barrels and in bulk; some I have buried. I don't like either plan, and am figuring to put up some kind of cold-storage building for future use. Winesap, Missouri Pippin, and Ben Davis, in the order named, have kept best for me, my losses being about one-fifth. I irrigate by flooding the ground all over thoroughly when necessary. Prices have ranged from 75 cents to $1.25 per bushel; from $2.50 to $3 per barrel. I use the best men I can get, and pay $1 a day and board, or $1.50 per day without board.

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A. W. SWITZER, Hutchinson, Reno county: Have lived in Kansas twenty-six years; have 2000 apple trees twelve, fifteen and eighteen years old. Winesap, Missouri Pippin and Ben Davis for market purposes; Maiden's Blush, Rambo and Roman Stem added for family use. Have discarded Limber Twig and Willow Twig, both subject to blight. I prefer bottom land, sandy loam soil, and sandy subsoil; north slope is best. Plant two-year-old, low-headed trees, in holes large enough to receive all the roots without crowding, one inch deeper than in the nursery. Plant to corn until five or six years of age; then nothing. Plow and cultivate both ways to kill the weeds. I believe windbreaks are a necessity, and should be made of trees planted two or three rods wide, four feet apart, on the south side. Wrap the trees with straw or hay to protect from rabbits and borers. I prune with a saw to thin out where too thick, and to keep down the watersprouts; it certainly pays. I use stable litter and old hay in the orchard for fertilizer. Do not think it pays or is advisable to pasture orchard. I spray when the bloom begins to fall, three times for codling-moth, with London purple and Paris green, and I am satisfied I have reduced them. For the borer I use a knife and a wire. I pick in baskets, and pile in long rows in the orchard. I sort into two classes, and sell the best in the orchard to men who haul them west. The culls go for cider. I do not irrigate, and I do not dry or store any apples. Prices have varied from twenty-five cents to one dollar per bushel. I use common farm labor at fifteen to eighteen dollars per month.

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J. C. CURRAN, Curran, Harper county. I have lived in Kansas fifteen years. Have fifty apple trees eleven years old. For commercial orchard I prefer Ben Davis, Winesap, Missouri Pippin, and York Imperial, and for family orchard add some summer and fall varieties. Have tried and discarded Rawle's Janet, on account of slow growth. Bellflower is a fall apple here; and Jonathan is too small. I prefer bottom land, sandy loam, subirrigated, water at six feet. I prefer good two-year-old trees, head twenty-eight inches from the ground, planted in spring, after March winds. I cultivate my orchard all the time with a disc drawn by four horses. I plant no crop. Have some weeds and rabbits. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of mulberries planted not closer than forty feet to the first row of trees; would buy the mulberry sprouts from the nursery. I keep the rabbits down with dogs and shot-guns; dig borers out. I never thin my apples; the wind does it for me. I fertilize my orchard with barn-yard litter, but think it injurious to the trees. Do not pasture my orchard. Trees are troubled with canker-worm and tent-caterpillar, and fruit with curculio. I do not spray. Pick apples by hand. Never dry apples; it does not pay. Do not irrigate. Prices have been fifty cents per bushel in the fall, and one dollar per bushel in the winter.

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JOHN H. GOSCH, Norwich, Kingman county: I have lived in Kansas twenty years. Have an apple orchard of 100 trees eighteen years old. I prefer a bottom having dark soil. I plant two-year-old trees in large holes, well watered. I cultivate my orchard shallow, and mulch, using a disc. Never plant anything among the trees. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of two or three rows of mulberries, on the north and south sides of the orchard. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter, but do not put it near the trees; think it beneficial, and would advise its use on all southwestern Kansas soil. Am not bothered with insects. Do not spray. Apples have been one dollar per bushel.

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