r the tree is grown. I grow oats in a young orchard, but
nothing in a bearing orchard, and cease cropping when about eight years
old. Windbreaks are essential on high ground. I would make them of
walnut trees planted in rows. I never thinned the fruit. My trees are in
mixed plantings, and prove satisfactory. I do not fertilize, and would
only advise it on high land. I pasture my orchard with hogs, and think
it advisable. My trees are troubled with tent-caterpillar, bagworm and
roundhead borer. I pick in a sack swung around the neck. I sell fruit in
the orchard, and make cider of the culls. My best market is at home; but
I have shipped to distant markets. It paid in an early day. I have dried
some apples in the sun, then heat and pack in barrels, and find a ready
market for them, but it does not pay. I store some fruit for home use,
and find that Winesap and White Winter Pearmain keep best. I have never
tried artificial cold storage. I do not irrigate. Prices have been from
$1 to $1.50 per bushel, and for dried fruit six to eight and one-third
cents per pound.

* * * * *

WILLIAM BURDEN, Leeds, Chautauqua county: Have been in Kansas twenty-one
years. Have 400 apple trees from eight to twenty years old. I prefer for
commercial orchards Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, and Winesap, and for
family orchard Early Harvest, Maiden's Blush, and Jonathan. Have tried
and discarded Willow Twig, Rawle's Janet, and Russet. I prefer limestone
bottom land, with north slope. I plant twenty-eight by thirty feet,
using two-year-old trees. I cultivate eight years with plow and
cultivator. I grow corn among young trees, clover in a bearing orchard,
and cease cropping after eight years. Need no windbreaks. Wrap trees
with corn-stalks to keep off rabbits. I prune to keep down watersprouts
and limbs from rubbing; I think it beneficial. Never thin the fruit on
the trees. Have not tried mixed plantings of trees. I do not fertilize.
I pasture my orchard with horses, but do not think it advisable. My
trees are troubled with root aphis, roundhead borer and leaf-roller. Do
not spray. I pick fruit by hand. I sell mostly to farmers living farther
west; sometimes sell in the orchard and sometimes retail. Make vinegar
of culls. Never tried distant markets; never dry any. Store some apples
in cave in boxes; am successful; find that Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin
and Winesap keep best. Do not irrigate. Prevailing price, thirty cents