have an orchard of 100 apple trees twenty-three years old. I
prefer for all purposes Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, and Winesap. Have
tried and discarded Rawle's Janet and Romanite. I prefer low land at
foot of hills, with deep loam subsoil and a medium slope. I set my trees
twenty feet apart. I cultivate in oats and corn up to bearing with
common twelve-inch stirring plow. Windbreaks are essential on north;
would make them of Osage orange planted in rows. Rabbits are hard to
contend with; for borers I use a solution of slaked lime. I prune with a
saw; do not think it very beneficial, as the rain gets in, and the wood
decays. I never thin apples. My trees are in mixed varieties. I mulch my
trees with straw, and think it beneficial. I pasture with calves and
hogs; do not think it advisable; it does not pay. Am somewhat troubled
with insects; I spray with a solution of coal-oil, using a small pump;
think I have reduced the codling-moth. For borers I dissolve lime to a
paste in water, and apply to the roots with a scrub broom. I pick my
fruit from ladders. I sort into three classes: first, second, and third.
I use common barrels to pack the fruit in; mark, and send by freight to
near-by markets. I wholesale sometimes, and sometimes sell in orchard;
market my best apples at near-by towns; I make cider and vinegar of
culls. I dry some fruit; use a large pan filled with hot water; then put
in sacks and boxes. I find a ready market; think it pays. I store some
apples in a cellar in large, open boxes, and in bulk. Some rot; those
that keep best are Winesap, Rawle's Janet, and Romanite. We have to sort
stored apples before marketing them; we lose from one-fourth to
one-third of them. I do not irrigate. Prices have been from fifty cents
to one dollar per bushel. I use any kind of help I can get, and pay
seventy-five cents per day.

* * * * *

J. K. P. HOUSE, Cloverdale, Chautauqua county. I have lived in Kansas
twenty-seven years, and have 250 large trees, planted twenty-six years.
I prefer for commercial orchard Ben Davis, and for family orchard
Dominie, Early Harvest, Rhode Island Greening, and Grimes's Golden
Pippin. I prefer bottom land, with a black loam and clay subsoil, with
north slope. I plant two-year-old, medium-top trees, in well-cultivated
ground, and mix the top soil with the roots. I have tried root grafts,
but not satisfactory. I cultivate shallow every year, using the
cultivator afte