Chapter D: C. SEIBERT, Columbus, Cherokee county: Has been in Kansas twenty-two

years, and has an orchard from five to twenty years old. For commercial purposes he prefers Ben Davis and Limber Twig, and for the family adds Maiden's Blush. Prefers dark soil with a low southern slope, if not wet. Prefers two-year-old trees set about thirty feet apart. Cultivates with a disc harrow until four or five years old. Grows corn for five or six years. Thinks windbreaks essential; would make them of Osage orange all around the orchard. Prunes his trees, and thinks it beneficial, and that it pays. Does not thin apples on the trees; says the wind does that for him. Fertilizes his trees while young with stable litter, and would advise it on all soils. Pastures his orchard with calves and hogs, and thinks it advisable, and that with the hogs it pays. His trees are troubled with bark-louse and leaf-roller, and his apples with codling-moth. He sprays his trees with London purple, and thinks he has reduced the codling-moth; for borers, and other insects not affected by spraying, he throws salt over the roots of the trees. Picks his apples by hand. Wholesales, retails and peddles them. His best markets are in his county; has never tried distant markets. Does not dry any. Is successful in storing apples in bulk in a cave for winter markets, the Limber Twig and Rawle's Janet keeping best; has never tried artificial cold storage. Does not irrigate. Prices have been from forty to sixty-five cents per bushel.

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JOHNSON KELLER, Arkansas City, Cowley county: Have lived in Kansas for twenty-one years. Have 2000 apple trees fourteen years old. I grow for market Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, and Smith's Cider. For family orchard I prefer Early Harvest, Maiden's Blush, Cooper's Early White, Ben Davis, and Missouri Pippin. I have discarded Gennetting, Winesap, Rambo, Red Astrachan, and many others that were worthless in this locality. I prefer second bottom, dark sandy loam, with north and east aspect. I plant two-year-old trees thirty feet apart, in holes four feet square, dug one foot too deep, and filled up with surface soil. I cultivate thoroughly as long as the orchard lives, with stirring plow and disc, and crop with corn as long as it will even make fodder, or until the trees shade the ground too much to raise anything. For small orchards I would recommend a windbreak of Osage orange set far enough apart on the south to grow in the shape of trees. For rabbits I use nothing but corn-stalks tied around the trees. I prune in moderation to keep the trees low; much pruning will kill trees in this locality. I thin apples some on the trees, at any time after they are the size of hickory-nuts. I find the best pollinators are a good apiary of bees. I believe in using plenty of stable litter well mixed with potash, but in moderation near the trees. Nothing except hogs should be allowed in an orchard. They destroy nearly all the insects. I spray for canker-worm as soon as they begin to hatch, and believe I reduced the codling-moth fifty per cent. last spring. For borers I wash the bodies of the trees early in spring and twice in May with soft soap and lime. For picking I use a long-handled device of my own invention, and sort into two classes: No. 1, best and largest; No. 2, medium. One week after they are put in the packing-house we pack in barrels, with hay or straw between the layers. We market our best apples and sell our second and third grades at home, and make all culls into cider and vinegar. Have tried distant markets, but did not generally pay. Never dried any. We store for winter in a fruit house and cave, in barrels, and are successful. Our best keepers have been Missouri Pippin and Winesap. Our loss on winter apples runs from three to five per cent. Prices in the fall, twenty-five to forty cents; in winter, 75 cents to $1.25 per bushel. For help we use common laborers at from seventy-five cents to one dollar per day.

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WM. N. SMITH, Brownsville, Chautauqua county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-eight years. I have an apple orchard of fifty trees twenty years old and twelve inches in diameter. For commercial purposes I prefer Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, and Winesap, and for family orchard I would add Maiden's Blush and Bellflower. I prefer bottom land, black, sandy loam, with a clay bottom and a north slope. I plant my trees thirty-six feet each way. I plant my orchard to corn and potatoes, using a disc, and plant tame grass in a bearing orchard, and cease cropping when they begin to bear. Windbreaks are essential. I would make them of Osage orange, and would surround the orchard with a fence of the same. I prune to keep the limbs from rubbing, and I think it pays. I do not thin the fruit while on the trees. My trees are in mixed plantings. I do not fertilize my orchard; am on bottom land, which does not need it, but think it would be beneficial on some soils. I pasture my orchard with hogs, but do not think it advisable; it does not pay. My trees are troubled with canker-worm, tent-caterpillar, flathead borer, roundhead borer, twig-borer, and leaf-roller. I spray with Paris green and London purple when the worms are at work on the leaves. I dig borers out. I hand-pick my apples in baskets from ladders, and sort into two classes--large and perfect in number one, small and perfect in number two; the balance for cider. I pack in barrels filled full, and mark with the grade; then haul to market in a wagon. I make the culls into cider. Coffeyville is my best market. I dry some and find a ready market for them; it pays. I am successful in storing apples in bulk in a cellar, and find Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin and Winesap keep best. Prices have been about fifty cents per bushel; dried apples, five cents per pound.

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