ort on a cull table in the orchard into No. 1 and No.
2. I prefer eleven-peck barrels, filled full enough to head without
bruising, stencil the end and haul to market in a lumber wagon. I often
sell in the orchard my best apples in barrels; the second grade I often
sell in the orchard, too; third grade I peddle; culls I make into cider.
My best local market is Lowemont; best distant market is Denver, Colo. I
never dry any. I store in an out cellar covered with dirt, in barrels,
and find Winesap keeps the best. I lose about one-tenth. Prices for the
last four years have run from 75 cents to $1.50 per barrel. I use the
most careful men, and pay seventy-five cents and board, or $1.25 without
board.

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CHAS. WARDEN, Leonardville, Riley county: I have lived in Kansas
twenty-seven years; have an apple orchard of 300 trees, from five to
sixteen years planted. For market I prefer Ben Davis, Winesap, and
Missouri Pippin; and for family, Maiden's Blush, and some other
varieties. I prefer hilltop with black loam and clay subsoil, with an
eastern slope. I plant two- and three-year-old trees in deep furrows
thrown out with a plow. I plant my orchard to potatoes and beans for
eight years, using a cultivator, and cease cropping when the trees shade
the ground; plant nothing in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are
essential; would make them of soft maple, Russian mulberry, or ash, two
rows around the orchard, three rods from the apple trees. To protect
from rabbits, I wrap the trees with stalks and straw. I prune my trees
with a saw, so that I can get in to pick the fruit. I think it
beneficial. I never thin the fruit while on the trees. I fertilize my
orchard; think it has been beneficial, and would advise it on all soils.
Do not pasture my orchard. Trees are troubled with tent-caterpillar. I
spray after the apples have formed, with London purple, to kill the
insects. After picking my apples, I leave them in piles in the orchard
until cold weather, when I carry them in. Sort into two classes--cider,
and selling; peddle my best apples, and make cider of the second and
third grades. Clay Center is my best market. Never dry any. I store some
for winter on shelves eight inches deep, and am successful. I find
Winesap keeps best. We have to repack stored apples before marketing,
losing about fifteen per cent. I do not irrigate. Price has been
seventy-five cents per bushel. I employ men at one dollar per