. I do not like them. I have upland, with a poor soil and a gumbo
subsoil, with a north and east aspect. I prefer two-year-old trees, set
thirty feet apart each way. I cultivate my orchard with a stirring plow,
and intend to keep it up as long as I live; plant corn or any cultivated
crop in the young orchard, and cease when there is no room; plant
nothing in the bearing orchard. I think a hedge fence all around the
orchard as a windbreak would be beneficial. For rabbits, I wrap the
trees with wire screening, and leave it on. I prune my trees every
winter, or when I have time, to thin the top and to give shape; I think
it pays, and is very beneficial. I do not thin my fruit--the wind does
that for me. I fertilize my orchard, and think it beneficial, and would
advise it on all soils. I do not pasture my orchard; it is not
advisable and does not pay. My trees are troubled with leaf-rollers and
other insects. I give the culls to hogs. I am successful in storing
apples in bulk in an arched cellar; Winesap, Ben Davis and Missouri
Pippin keep best. I never tried artificial cold storage. I do not
irrigate. Price has been seventy-five cents per bushel; dried apples
eight to ten cents per pound.

* * * * *

F. B. HARRIS, White City, Morris county: I have lived in Kansas
twenty-five-years, and have an orchard of 800 trees, planted from ten to
fifteen years ago. For commercial purposes I prefer Maiden's Blush,
Cooper's Early White, Ben Davis, Winesap, and Missouri Pippin. For a
family orchard I would put out the same, adding Red June, Jonathan, and
Smith's Cider. I have discarded the Willow Twig, as it rots too easily.
I prefer hilltop, north slope, soil as deep as possible, and a gumbo
subsoil. Would plant two-year-old trees with perfect crown growth,
twenty feet north and south, thirty feet east and west. My last
planting, ten years ago, was of root grafts, and I like it first rate. I
grow corn in the orchard for about ten years, then nothing. I cultivate
thoroughly, plowing until the soil is doubled, and then use the disc
pulverizer. I believe windbreaks to be very, very, very essential, and
would make of Osage orange on the outside, and any quick-growing
forest-tree next to the orchard. For protection against rabbits, I tie
with weeds and twine. I prune with a jackknife, a two-inch thin-bladed
chisel, and mallet. It does pay, and is beneficial until the trees are
ten years old. I tried thinning,