Part 27 (2/2)

CHAS. DIEMURT, Murdock, Butler county: I have been in Kansas thirty years; have 400 apple trees eight years old. I have Ben Davis, Winesap, Missouri Pippin, Dominie, Grimes's Golden Pippen, Rome Beauty, Rambo, Early Harvest, Bellflower, Rawle's Janet, Willow Twig, Red June, Maiden's Blush, and d.u.c.h.ess of Oldenburg. I prefer hilltop, with sandy soil, and a red, sandy subsoil, with western slope. I plant two-year-old, low, stocky trees, two rods apart each way. I cultivate with plow and cultivator. I whitewash with lime and blood to keep the rabbits off, and lime to keep off borers and other insects. I prune, taking off only surplus limbs, and think it beneficial. I never thin apples. I fertilize to improve the tree; I think it advisable. Am troubled with canker-worm, leaf-crumplers, and codling-moth. I spray when the leaves are just out with London purple for canker-worm, and think I have reduced the codling-moth. For insects that are not affected by spraying, I wash the trees with lime during the fall, and in the spring with strong soap suds. I pick my apples by hand, and sort into two cla.s.ses--best for eating, second for cider. For packing I prefer boxes made of slats [lath?], two feet wide by four feet long, and one foot deep. I sell some in the orchard, make cider of the culls, and store some in boxes, and am successful. I find the Missouri Pippin and Winesap keep best. Prices have been from fifty cents to one dollar per bushel.

F. M. SAVAGE, Burden, Cowley county: Have been in Kansas twenty-seven years; have a small orchard of 375 trees that have been set from four to twenty-two years. I would recommend for all purposes Ben Davis, Winesap, and Missouri Pippin. Tried Northern Spy, but it did not do well. My location is on hilltop, north slope, with a black loam soil and clay subsoil. I plant two-year-old thrifty trees with a spade, in large, deep holes. Would cultivate as long as they live, with a plow, and grow no crop among the trees. I think a windbreak of several rows of Osage orange on the south side is a necessity. For borers and rabbits wash with whale-oil soap, digging out any borers that may be in with a knife.

I prune with a knife, saw, and ax, and believe it pays. I use stable litter in my orchard. Tried pasturing my orchard once with hogs, but do not think it advisable. Have some borers, tent-caterpillars, and codling-moth, but have never sprayed any. Pick in baskets, buckets, and sacks, and sort into two cla.s.ses--first, to sell or put away; second, culls. Prefer large boxes, with the fruit laid in carefully, each kind by itself. I wholesale as many as possible, sell some in the orchard, and make cider of culls. My best market is at home. Have never tried drying. Keep them successfully over winter in bulk in the cellar for family use; Winesap keeps best. Prices have run from twenty-five cents to one dollar per bushel.

S. B. BROWN, Waverly, Coffey county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-six years. Have 1100 apple trees from three to twenty-five years old. My market varieties are Winesap and Missouri Pippin; for family orchard I add Yellow Transparent and Grimes's Golden Pippin. My location is hilltop, with a northern slope. I plant two-year-old trees by running a furrow with a plow and opening holes with a shovel. I cultivate with a plow and cultivator from ten to twelve years, growing corn for ten years; after that, nothing. I believe windbreaks are essential, and would make them of Osage orange or maples, on the east, north, and northwest. For rabbits I wrap the trees; for borers I wash with soft soap. I prune to make the apples larger. I use stable litter between the rows. I do not think it advisable to pasture the orchard. I do not spray, and am troubled with canker-worm, flat-headed borer, and curculio. We hand-pick into sacks, and sort into four grades--No. 1, No.

2, No. 3, and culls. I peddle my best apples; make culls into cider. My best market is Waverly; never tried distant markets. I have dried apples on the Zimmerman drier with satisfaction. I box the dried product and find a ready market for it, and think it pays. I do not store any apples. The prevailing price for apples is fifty cents per bushel, and for dried apples twelve cents per pound. I use men for help, and pay one dollar per day.

d.i.c.k MAY, Elk, Chase county: Have lived in Kansas since 1860. Have a family apple orchard of sixty trees eighteen years old. I prefer Ben Davis and Winesap, on bottom land with a second slope. I cultivate my orchard fourteen years, using a cultivator, and plant corn in a young orchard and orchard-gra.s.s in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are essential; I would make them of timber by planting in groves. For rabbits I wrap the trees; and use soap-suds for borers. I prune with a pruning-knife, and think it pays. I do not thin the fruit while on the trees. I would advise the use of fertilizers on all soils. I do not pasture my orchard; do not think it advisable; it does not pay. My trees are troubled with roundhead borer, and tent-caterpillar. I do not spray.

I pick by hand and sort into two cla.s.ses. I haul to market in a wagon and wholesale them. I have put apples in cold storage and find Winesap and Missouri Pippin keep best and satisfactorily. I have to repack stored apples before marketing. I do not irrigate. Prices have been from fifty cents to one dollar per bushel, and dried apples six cents per pound.

E. O. BEAVERS, Ottumwa, Lyon county: Have been in Kansas twenty-three years. Have 2000 apple trees, from one to twenty-three years planted.

Prefer for market Winesap, Mammoth Black Twig, Gano, Ben Davis, and Missouri Pippin; and for family use Winesap, Mammoth Black Twig, Gano, Ben Davis, Jonathan, and Early Harvest. Have tried and discarded Lawver, because they do not hang on until maturity. I prefer a north slope of high, level, bottom land, with black soil and clay subsoil. Plant two-year-old, whole-root, round-topped trees, in large holes dug two feet deep and filled for six inches with surface soil, packed well. Have now in bearing some good seedlings. Grow corn in orchard from eight to ten years, and cultivate the tree rows well with shallow plowing, and harrow and cultivator. After ten years sow to red clover. Want a windbreak of timber on south. Shoot the rabbits. Prune with saw and axe to ”get nicer apples,” and think it pays exceedingly well. Prefer to plant in blocks of a kind, as they are more fruitful. Use stable litter, but not close up to the trees. Believe it pays to pasture with hogs, if not overstocked. Have canker-worm and codling-moth; spray three times, the first before blooming, for canker-worm. Have surely reduced codling-moth by spraying. Borers never bother any. Pick by hand from common ladders, with sack over shoulder. Sort into three cla.s.ses: No. 1 perfect, No. 2, and culls. Have a different man to pick out each grade.

Use eleven-peck barrels; face two layers, then fill, shake, and press.

Usually sell marketable fruit in orchard to s.h.i.+ppers. Sell culls by wagon-loads in orchard. My best near-by market is Emporia, Kan. Have s.h.i.+pped to a distant market and made it pay. I have stored some in barrels in cellar, and all kept well, Winesap perhaps a little the better. Prices range from forty to sixty cents per bushel. I employ the best experienced men I can get, and pay one dollar per day of ten hours.

J. ELLISON, Chautauqua, Chautauqua county: Has lived thirty-two years in Kansas. Has an orchard of 800 trees--300 fifteen years, and 500 twelve years planted. Prefers Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Rawle's Janet and Jonathan for market, and for family use adds Maiden's Blush. Has discarded every other kind; the above are the only profitable ones.

Prefers sandy loam with clay subsoil, high eastern slope, protected on north. Sets three-foot yearling trees in spring, marking out with fourteen-inch plow, thirty-five feet apart each way, and set at crossing. Cultivates with stubble plow in April, then keeps harrow going until August 1. Uses hoe around trees. Grows corn in orchard until ten years old; then keeps ground well cultivated. Does not desire windbreaks. Feeds the rabbits poisoned fruit. Says borers are not troublesome if cultivation is kept up every two weeks through June and July. Prunes any time from January to June, to improve the fruit and prolong the life of the tree. Says stable litter on all sandy loam, not nearer than three feet from the tree, will make the fruit larger, crisper, and better flavor. Allows no stock but poultry in the orchard.

Sprays with London purple, on April 10, 20, 30, and May 10, for canker-worms, and destroys them completely. Has cleaned out the codling-moth, too. For borers he washes his trees in June and September with carbolic acid ten pounds, sulphur forty pounds, lime enough to make a thick whitewash. On picking he sorts into three grades: No. 1, select, large, sound, smooth; No. 2, small and sound; No. 3, knotty and specked.

Uses for marketing one-bushel baskets packed full. His best market is in the orchard, selling by wagon-loads. He uses some culls for vinegar and gives many to his neighbors. Does not dry any. Stores some for winter in trenches in bulk, in the soil, covered with pure earth, and they keep as follows: Missouri Pippin, first; Rawle's Janet, second; Ben Davis, third. Prices vary from forty cents to one dollar per bushel. Uses common farm help at sixty cents to eighty cents per day.

N. SANFORD, Oswego, Labette county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-seven years. Have an apple orchard of 150 trees, twenty-four years old, ten inches in diameter. For all purposes I prefer Red June, Jonathan, Grimes's Golden Pippin, Rome Beauty, and Winesap. Have tried and discarded Ben Davis, White Winter Pearmain, Red Winter Pearmain, and Missouri Pippin; they don't do well here. I prefer clay bottom land with north aspect. I prefer well-grown two-year-old trees, set a little deeper than nurserymen recommend. I cultivate my orchard to corn or potatoes four years, using a five-tooth cultivator, and cease cropping after six years. I plant nothing but raspberries and blackberries in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are not essential. For rabbits I wrap the young trees with cloth. I prune the tree while young to give shape and get rid of dead branches; I think it pays. I do not thin my apples while on the trees; it does not pay. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter and ashes; would advise their use on all soils. I pasture my orchard in early spring and during the fall and winter with horses and cattle; think it advisable, and that it pays. My trees are troubled with canker-worm, bud moth, root aphis, and twig-borer, and my apples with codling-moth, curculio, and gouger. I spray with a force-pump; use Paris green, London purple and Bordeaux mixture for canker-worms and all other pests. I pick my apples from ladders with care; sort into two cla.s.ses--first, all large and sound; second, small and sound; pack them in eleven-peck barrels as we pick them; fill the barrels full with a little pressure; mark with variety and grade. I wholesale, retail and peddle my apples; I evaporate the second and third grades and culls. My best market is Colorado; I have tried distant markets and found they paid. I dry apples with a home-made drier, which is quite satisfactory; after they are dry we pack in fifty-pound boxes, but do not find a ready market; they pay some years if the quality is good. Am successful in storing apples in barrels in a stone cellar, and find Winesaps keep best. I have to repack stored apples, losing about one-sixth or one-eighth of them. Do not irrigate. Prices have been from fifty cents to one dollar per bushel; dried apples from five to nine cents, if fancy. I employ women at fifty cents per day for preparing the evaporated apples.

C. G. WICKERSHAM, Parsons, Labette county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-six years. Have an apple orchard, the oldest of which are twenty-seven years. For all purposes I prefer Jonathan, Grimes's Golden Pippin, and Winesap. I prefer hilltop, with the very best of black soil, having a north or northwest slope. I prefer two- or three-year-old medium-sized trees, set in holes dug for them. I cultivate my orchard to potatoes, using a common cultivator, and cease cropping after ten or fifteen years; nothing should be planted in a bearing orchard.

Windbreaks are essential; would make them of three to six rows of elms.

We destroy all the rabbits we can. I prune the trees when first set out to shorten in the limbs; then keep it up every year; it pays big. I do not thin the fruit on the trees; the wind does it for me; it pays to not have the trees too full. Makes no material difference whether the trees are in block of one variety or mixed plantings. I fertilize my orchard with slightly rotted stable litter, and think it pays, and is beneficial. I would advise its use on all soils, but not as extensively on rich soils. I pasture my orchard with chickens only; they are a benefit and pay well. My apples are troubled with codling-moth, curculio, and bud moth. I spray with London purple, Paris green, and Bordeaux mixture. I pick my apples by hand, sort in from three to six grades, and put them on hay in the shade. Pack in one- and one-and-a-half-bushel packages. I wholesale, retail and peddle a very little. Give the culls to neighbors who have no apples. Have tried distant markets, but it did not pay. Home market is best. I do not dry any. I store some in a frost-proof house. Have to repack stored apples.

I water my orchard frequently.

<script>