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G. O. VICK, Fowler, Meade county: Have lived in Kansas fourteen years. I
planted an apple orchard twelve years ago; have about fifty Missouri
Pippins, that have not failed to give us a crop for seven or eight
years; last fall we got three bushels from a single tree--the most ever
taken from one tree by us. They are fine keepers, and are said to be
much better, both in color and flavor, than those grown farther east. We
have kept them in fine condition until July following, and then the
supply gave out. Have no trees where they can be irrigated, but hope to
put out an orchard next spring that can be irrigated. I have the finest
location [for irrigation] in the West, and will do my best. I prefer
valley land, with a southeast slope. Prices have been two dollars per
bushel.

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C. A. BLACKMORE, Sharon, Barber county: I have lived in the state about
five years; have an orchard of 1100 apple trees, three years old, two
inches in diameter, seven feet high. For market I prefer Ben Davis,
Missouri Pippin, Winesap, Early Harvest, Benoni, and Maiden's Blush.
When planting a family orchard select varieties from the earliest to the
latest, that they may be well supplied. In planting a commercial orchard
I would study the wants and demands of the people, also the varieties
best adapted to our soil and climate. Do not be like an experiment
station and plant all varieties catalogued. A mongrel orchard, like
mongrel stock, is not good property. The man who has a hundred bushels
of some one good variety of apples can always get the best price for
them; but if the hundred bushels consisted of ten or a dozen varieties
there would not be enough of any one variety to attract a buyer, and
consequently he must take what he can get for them. Select such
varieties as the market demands, and then confine your planting to as
few varieties as possible, and your commercial orchard will attract
buyers. I prefer a bottom, with a dark, sandy or red land, with a
reddish clay subsoil, north or northeast slope. I plant thrifty
two-year-old trees, in ground plowed deeply and marked off with a lister
sixteen by thirty feet; then set the trees four to six inches deeper
than they stood in the nursery, in holes dug at the crossings. I haul my
trees to the field in a barrel two-thirds full of water, take them out
one at a time and trim all the broken and long roots, arranging