* * * * *

G. W. RHODES, Lowe, Chautauqua county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-two
years. Have an orchard of 500 apple trees from five to twenty years old.
For market I prefer Ben Davis and Jonathan, and for family orchard Ben
Davis, Ortley, Maiden's Blush, and Grimes's Golden Pippin. Have tried
and discarded Lawver, King and Baldwin on account of shy bearing. I
prefer hilltop, with deep loam, limestone soil, and clay subsoil, with
northeast slope. I prefer straight one-year-old trees, with plenty of
roots, set in squares of twenty-five feet. I cultivate my orchard to
corn or potatoes while the trees are small, using a plow and cultivator,
and cease cropping after ten years; plant nothing in a bearing orchard.
Windbreaks are not essential, but would be beneficial; would make them
of evergreens. For borers I wash the trunks of small trees with carbolic
acid and strong soap-suds. I prune to thin the tops, so I can get in to
gather the apples; it pays. I have thinned the fruit while on the trees,
but not lately; haven't time; but think it pays. My trees are planted in
rows, each variety by itself. I fertilize my orchard with barn-yard
litter while I am cultivating; when the trees get larger I mow the grass
and weeds and let lay as a mulch, and afterwards as a manure; this is
all needed. Never have pastured the orchard, but think hogs with rings
in their noses would be a benefit. My apples are troubled with
codling-moth. I spray after the blossom falls with arsenates, for all
kinds of insects that come early, especially the codling-moth; think I
have reduced them. I pick my apples by hand from a ladder, bench, or get
into the tree. We sort into two grades, large and small; sell them in
the orchard to people from the west and Oklahoma, who haul them off in
wagons. We have a great many dried apples, dried by the neighbors on
shares; we find a ready market for them. I am quite successful in
storing apples in bulk in a cave arched over with stone. Ben Davis,
Winesap and Missouri Pippin keep best. Prices have been from twenty-five
to sixty cents per bushel in the fall, and from $1 to $1.50 in the
winter.

* * * * *

JASON HELMICK, Cloverdale, Chautauqua county: Has lived in Kansas
twenty-seven years. For all commercial purposes he prefers Missouri
Pippin and Winesap, and adds a few summer and fall varieties for family
use. Has tried and discarded Bellflower, because