windbreak. I prune to keep the top balanced, and do not
allow it to get too thick; I think it has been beneficial. Have never
thinned apples on the trees. My trees are in mixed plantings, the
varieties are Missouri Pippin, Ben Davis, and others. I fertilize
sometimes, I think it beneficial and would advise it on poor land. I
pasture my orchard with hogs and sheep, and think it advisable; it pays.
Have some insects but not in great quantity. I spray with London purple
after the bloom falls off--one pound of London purple in from 50 to 100
gallons of water. Think I have reduced the number of codling-moth. In
picking I use a sack swung over the shoulder, and a light ladder. I
classify to suit the purchaser, doing the sorting in a cool place and
usually packing the best in barrels, and sell at wholesale, often in the
orchard; feed the culls to hogs; never tried distant markets. I
sometimes store for winter market in barrels and keep in cave surrounded
with hay; am not always successful. I find those that keep best are
Little Romanite, Rawle's Janet, Ben Davis, and Missouri Pippin; never
tried artificial cold-storage. Seldom have to repack stored apples
before marketing; lose about one-fourth. The prevailing price this year
has been fifty to seventy-five cents per bushel.

* * * * *

A. S. DENNISON, Columbus, Cherokee county: Have lived in Kansas
thirty-one years; have an apple orchard of 200 trees, fourteen years
old. I prefer for commercial purpose Ben Davis, Winesap, and Missouri
Pippin; and for family use Red June and Early Harvest. I prefer bottom
land, with black loam, gravel subsoil, and northeast slope. I prefer
one-year-old trees, set sixteen feet at first; thin to thirty-two feet.
I cultivate my young orchard with potatoes and strawberries for ten
years, then sow to clover, plowing again in two years; I never cease
cropping; cultivate with plow, disc, and harrow. I wrap the trees for
rabbits. I prune with a saw and knife, and think it beneficial. I never
thin apples. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter, but would not
advise it on all soils. I pasture my orchard with hogs and calves, and
think it advisable, and that it pays. My trees are troubled with
tent-caterpillar, and my apples with codling-moth. I spray for
codling-moth with London purple and Paris green immediately after the
blossoms fall, and again in ten days. I think I have reduced the
codling-moth. I dig borers out. I