Winesap, Jonathan, and Jefferis. Have tried and
discarded Ben Davis and Limber Twig. I prefer bottom land with a clay
subsoil; southeast slope. I prefer two-year-old trees, planted
twenty-four feet apart, then thin them out when they crowd. I cultivate
my orchard to corn and potatoes, using a cultivator and drop harrow, and
cease cropping when about six years old; plant nothing in a bearing
orchard. Windbreaks are not essential. To protect the trees from rabbits
I rub with rabbits' blood, and whitewash for borers. I prune very
little; remove dead limbs, and clip the others; think it beneficial if
not too severe. I do not thin my fruit while on the trees; it does not
pay. It is not necessary to set trees in mixed plantings when you keep
bees. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter; think corn-stalks best,
it has proven beneficial; would advise its use on all soils. Do not
pasture my orchard; is not advisable; does not pay. My trees are
troubled with tent-caterpillar, bud moth, root aphis, bag-worm,
roundhead borer, woolly aphis, twig-borer, oyster-shell bark-louse, and
my apples with curculio. I spray just before the bud swells, and after
they bloom, with white arsenic; sal soda and lime for canker-worms and
moths; think I have reduced the codling-moth. I hand-pick my apples;
sort into two classes. Sell in the orchard, wholesale, retail, and
peddle; keep the best apples at home; make vinegar of the second and
third grades, and culls. Never tried distant markets. Find a ready
market for dried apples; but it does not pay. I store apples for winter
use in a circular arched cave, in barrels; find Winesap and Missouri
Pippin keep best. I do not irrigate. Price has been fifty cents per
bushel.

* * * * *

P. WAGNER, Dresden, Decatur county: I have lived in the state twelve
years. Have an apple orchard of fifty trees, planted last spring. I
prefer hilltop, with an east or north aspect. I cultivate my orchard
with a cultivator and harrow, growing no crop. Would make windbreaks of
locust trees. For rabbits I use barrel staves. I do not prune, or thin
the fruit while on the trees. My trees are in mixed plantings. I
fertilize my orchard with stable litter, and think it beneficial, and
would advise its use on all soils. I do not pasture my orchard; do not
think it advisable; it does not pay. I do not spray. I water my orchard.
Apples have been one dollar per bushel; dried apples, five cents per
po