hunted spring and fall. Small trees I have protected from rabbits by
stalks, paper, or veneering. Rabbits are not hard to head off, but they
won't let a case go by default. Some people depend upon traps, dogs,
guns, poison, cats, washes, wagon grease and liver to keep the rabbits
away. I have known all of these to fail, but I have never known a tree
well tied up with corn-stalks to suffer from "mechanical destruction"
via the rabbit route, unless the string broke. There is no law against
having a good string. The only pruning I have ever done has been to take
out water sprouts. I don't know whether it paid or not. But I like the
looks of a tree better without the pompadour effect a top full of
sprouts gives it. Never have thinned apples; orchards here are
self-thinners. By picking time the fruit is fully half on the ground and
commonly not too much on the trees. Have never used manure or any
fertilizer on apple trees. I never pastured an orchard but once. One
trial cured me. I judge that one trial is nearly always enough. It is
not advisable to pasture orchards, not even with hogs. The greatest pest
we have is the apple worm--son, I am told, of the codling-moth. Have
made no effort to check it by spraying, or otherwise.

I pick apples by hand; drop them into a sack hung over the shoulder;
when the sack is full, it is emptied onto a sorting table. Make two
classes of fruit: No. 1 and culls. Have never used any package but the
barrel. Prefer the full-sized flour barrel. Fill barrel full enough to
prevent rattling, when head is pressed in; mark faced head with variety,
quality, and my name and address. Have never sold crop in orchard; often
sell culls there. Have never sold a greater amount than one car-load at
one time; have sold as little as one peck. The best market is sometimes
at one place, sometimes at another. Minneapolis is the most distant
market I have ever tried. Have mostly put my apples in cold storage.
About one time out of three they have kept well. The fault was not in
the apples; cold storage is either not understood or frequently
mismanaged. Cold-storage people should be made to guarantee their
work!--should not be paid for apples that are not delivered in the
spring. Cold-storage rates (fifty cents per barrel) are absurdly high. I
use male help, young and old, good and bad. Help commonly hard to get
here in the fall. Wages ordinarily one dollar per day, without board.

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