Missouri Pippin; and for family, Winesap, Missouri Pippin, and Rawle's
Janet. I have tried and discarded Cooper's Early White; it is too
tender. I prefer two feet of good soil on a hill; don't care what is
below if drainage is good; think a northern slope best. I prefer fresh,
vigorous, two-year-old trees with well-formed top, set in land plowed
for two preceding years in deep furrows both ways; open holes with hoe,
then tramp dirt well around roots. I cultivate my orchard with corn or
potatoes for ten or fifteen years, using a small one-horse stirring
plow, wrapping the ends of the singletree. Cease cropping when the trees
get too large. Windbreaks are not essential, but think they might be
beneficial to some kinds, on the south side, to protect from hot winds.
Would make them of Russian mulberry or willows. Any smell of blood or
fresh meat will keep the rabbits off; I do not like wrappers, as they
harbor vermin. I prune my trees some, cutting out small limbs to let in
light; think it beneficial. I thin the fruit on my trees by knocking
them off with a pole, if I can't do better, at any time; it pays when
overloaded. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter; do not put it
close to trees; think it beneficial if not too coarse; would advise its
use on soils where it will not force too rank a growth. I pasture my
orchard with growing calves, but do not think it advisable; it does not
pay. My trees are troubled with tent-caterpillar, flathead borer, and
leaf-roller; and my apples with codling-moth and curculio. I do not
spray; but think it would be beneficial. I pick my apples from a common
orchard platform ladder. Do not raise any apples for market. Do not dry
or store any, or irrigate. Prices have been twenty-five to sixty cents
in the fall, fifty cents to one dollar in the winter. Average about
sixty cents per bushel for good apples. Dried apples have been five to
seven cents per pound.

* * * * *

J. F. CECIL, North Topeka, Shawnee county: I have lived in Kansas twenty
years. Have an apple orchard of 200 trees, six to eight years planted,
three to four inches in diameter. I prefer for market Winesap, Grimes's
Golden Pippin, York Imperial, and Missouri Pippin; and for family
orchard Red June, Benoni, Summer Rambo, Grimes's Golden Pippin,
Jonathan, Winesap, and Rawle's Janet. My orchard is situated on a hill.
I prefer mulatto soil, with red subsoil. I prefer young, thrifty trees,
plante