fourteen years, using a cultivator, and plant corn in a young
orchard and orchard-grass in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are
essential; I would make them of timber by planting in groves. For
rabbits I wrap the trees; and use soap-suds for borers. I prune with a
pruning-knife, and think it pays. I do not thin the fruit while on the
trees. I would advise the use of fertilizers on all soils. I do not
pasture my orchard; do not think it advisable; it does not pay. My trees
are troubled with roundhead borer, and tent-caterpillar. I do not spray.
I pick by hand and sort into two classes. I haul to market in a wagon
and wholesale them. I have put apples in cold storage and find Winesap
and Missouri Pippin keep best and satisfactorily. I have to repack
stored apples before marketing. I do not irrigate. Prices have been from
fifty cents to one dollar per bushel, and dried apples six cents per
pound.

* * * * *

E. O. BEAVERS, Ottumwa, Lyon county: Have been in Kansas twenty-three
years. Have 2000 apple trees, from one to twenty-three years planted.
Prefer for market Winesap, Mammoth Black Twig, Gano, Ben Davis, and
Missouri Pippin; and for family use Winesap, Mammoth Black Twig, Gano,
Ben Davis, Jonathan, and Early Harvest. Have tried and discarded Lawver,
because they do not hang on until maturity. I prefer a north slope of
high, level, bottom land, with black soil and clay subsoil. Plant
two-year-old, whole-root, round-topped trees, in large holes dug two
feet deep and filled for six inches with surface soil, packed well. Have
now in bearing some good seedlings. Grow corn in orchard from eight to
ten years, and cultivate the tree rows well with shallow plowing, and
harrow and cultivator. After ten years sow to red clover. Want a
windbreak of timber on south. Shoot the rabbits. Prune with saw and axe
to "get nicer apples," and think it pays exceedingly well. Prefer to
plant in blocks of a kind, as they are more fruitful. Use stable litter,
but not close up to the trees. Believe it pays to pasture with hogs, if
not overstocked. Have canker-worm and codling-moth; spray three times,
the first before blooming, for canker-worm. Have surely reduced
codling-moth by spraying. Borers never bother any. Pick by hand from
common ladders, with sack over shoulder. Sort into three classes: No. 1
perfect, No. 2, and culls. Have a different man to pick out each grade.
Use eleven-peck barrels; face two layers, th