prefer bottom land with a sandy loam soil and
porous subsoil. I prefer two-year-old trees set thirty feet apart each
way. I cultivate my orchard to corn or potatoes for several years, using
a common cultivator; cease cropping when they begin to bear, and sow to
orchard-grass. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of
forest-trees. I prune to thin the branches; think it beneficial. Do not
thin the fruit while on the trees. My trees are in mixed plantings. I do
not fertilize my orchard. I do not pasture my orchard. Codling-moth
troubles my apples; have not sprayed. Pick my apples by hand; sort into
two classes--marketable and cider. I sell some apples while in the
orchard at retail. Sell my best apples in home market, and make cider of
culls. Never tried distant markets. Do not dry any. Don't store any. Do
not irrigate. Prices have been from twenty-five cents to one dollar per
bushel.
* * * * *
S. S. WEATHERBY, Le Roy, Coffey county: Have lived in Kansas
twenty-seven years. Have 500 apple trees, twelve years planted, six
inches in diameter. Grow only Ben Davis, Winesap, and Missouri Pippin.
Have discarded Willow Twig on account of blight. My location is in the
bottom, with rich loam and sandy subsoil. I have planted in rows
thirty-two feet distant; cultivate in corn for four years after
planting, and use the disc harrow as much as possible. In a bearing
orchard I would put clover. Believe windbreaks are essential, made of
any kind of forest-trees, planted thickly, in two or three rows around
the orchard, and cultivated while small. Protect from rabbits with a dog
and gun, and also by wrapping the trees. Prune very little; simply keep
down sprouts and remove crossed limbs. Have never thinned on the tree,
and believe barn-yard litter useful as a fertilizer. I pasture with a
few calves, but think it does not pay. Am troubled with some insect, and
spray moderately in May with London purple, for web-worm and
leaf-crumpler. Pick from the wagon, driving under the trees. Sell at
both wholesale and retail, and my best market is the commercial buyer.
Feed my culls mostly to the pigs. Never have dried any, nor stored any
for winter. Have a pipe running from my water-tank, by which means have
watered a few trees for a number of years, and these trees are very
large and yield very fine fruit. If I were to start again, instead of
planting 500 apple trees I would plant sixty, and dig a well and put a
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