I do not thin
the fruit on the trees, but think it should be done. I fertilize my
orchard with barn-yard litter, and think it beneficial; I would advise
its use on all soils. I pasture my orchard after five or six years with
hogs, and think it advisable and that it pays. My trees are troubled
with root aphis, but not bad, and my apples with codling-moth. I do not
spray. I hand-pick my apples, in baskets, or in a sack over the
shoulder, and put them in barrels, boxes, or wagon. I sort into two
classes: first, sound, for market or home use; second, for vinegar. I
sort them as I pick, and drop the vinegar ones on the ground, and gather
afterwards. I pack my apples in bushel boxes (that is the best way)
while picking. I sell apples in the orchard; also wholesale, retail, and
peddle. I make second- and third-grade apples into vinegar, or feed them
to hogs. My best market is at home. Have tried distant markets, and
found it sometimes paid. I do not dry any, and am successful at storing
apples in bulk in a cellar; sometimes I bury them; I find Winesap,
Limber Twig and Little Romanite keep best. We have to repack stored
apples before marketing, losing from ten to fifteen per cent. of them. I
do not irrigate, but think it would pay. Prices have been from forty
cents to one dollar per bushel; dried apples from five to six cents per
pound.

* * * * *

J. B. SAXE, Fort Scott, Bourbon county: Have lived in Kansas twenty-nine
years. Have an apple orchard of 800 trees from fifteen to twenty-seven
years old. For commercial orchard I prefer Ben Davis and Willow Twig,
and for family orchard would add Winesap and Jonathan. Have tried and
discarded Baldwin, Yellow Bellflower, Maiden's Blush, Early Harvest,
Sweet Bough, Bailey's Sweet, Roxberry Russet, Fall Strawberry, King of
Tompkins County, and several Russian varieties; all are worthless. I
prefer hilly land, with loam soil and clay subsoil, northeast slope. I
prefer one- or two-year-old medium-sized trees, set twenty to thirty
feet apart. Plant my orchard to corn, raspberries, and blackberries,
using a plow and cultivator--a one-horse cultivator between the rows,
for five or six years; cease cropping when the trees begin to bear.
Windbreaks are not essential. I poison the rabbits, and am not bothered
with borers. Prune a little with a pruning knife to keep the head open;
think it pays, and is beneficial. Have never thinned apples while on the
trees. I d