-moth. I pick my fruit by hand
and sell some apples to the neighbors in the orchard. I feed culls to
pigs. I never tried distant markets. I have apples dried on shares for
family use. It does not pay to dry for market. I am partially successful
in storing apples in barrels in a cellar under the house. I find Rhode
Island Greening, Ben Davis, Duchess of Oldenburg and Emperor keep best.
I have to repack stored apples before marketing, losing one-fourth of
them. I do not irrigate. Prices have been from twenty to thirty cents
per bushel.

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W. D. CELLAR, Edwardsville, Wyandotte county: Been in Kansas twelve
years; have 2000 apple trees from two to eight years of age, comprising
Ben Davis, Jonathan, Gano and Missouri Pippin for commercial purposes,
and Maiden's Blush, Early Harvest, Bailey Sweet, Huntsman's Favorite,
Grimes' Golden Pippin and Winesap for family orchard. I have discarded
the McAfee and Lawver as unproductive. I prefer loose soil, and hill
land with an east and north slope. Plant thrifty two-year-old trees, in
rows 25x30 feet. I cultivate to corn, berries, etc., until seven or
eight years old, with the Planet jr. horse hoe, and then sow to clover.
Windbreaks are not needed in our locality. I prune conservatively,
cutting out broken or interlacing branches, and suckers at the base; I
believe it pays. Have never thinned on the tree, and fertilize with
barn-yard litter and clover. I do not pasture my apple orchard. Am
troubled some with insects, but have not sprayed. I dig out borers,
which I think may be largely prevented by the use of wooden tree
wrappers. I pick in the ordinary way and divide into two classes:
select, sound, smooth apples above two inches in diameter; number two,
sound apples too small for select. I do this on a sorting table, and
pack in twelve-peck barrels, pressed down, and marked with a stencil. I
sell at wholesale, sometimes in the orchard; culls I sell in the orchard
or the Kansas City market. Our best market is Kansas City. I have
shipped to distant markets and made it pay. Have never dried any. Have
stored for winter in barrels in cold store; they have not kept
satisfactorily, I cannot say why; Jonathan and Missouri Pippin kept best
this past winter. I had to repack this spring and lost twenty per cent.
Prices have ranged from 10 cents to $1.50 per bushel. For help I use
men, and pay one dollar per day.

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