I fertilize my orchard with barn-yard litter; I also use fertilizer from the chicken yard, and would advise its use on all soils. I never pasture my orchard; it injures the trees, and does not pay. My trees are troubled with canker-worm, tent-caterpillar, flathead borer, and leaf-roller. Curculio trouble my apples. I do not spray, but my neighbors do, and are not successful. I pick my apples by hand into half-bushel baskets, and put them in a wagon, with hay in the bottom. I sort into three or four classes, putting the red, yellow and green in separate piles. I pack my apples in sacks, and haul to market in a wagon. I often sell in the orchard; retail my best at stores, peddle the second and third grades, and make cider for vinegar of the culls. My best markets are Elmdale, Chase county, and Marion, Marion county; have never tried distant markets. We dry a few apples; use a parer, corer, and slicer; it is satisfactory; then pack them in flour sacks; but it does not pay. I store some in boxes and barrels in a cave; am successful; those that keep best are Romanite and Red Winter Pearmain. Never have tried artificial cold storage. We have to repack stored apples before sending to market; lose about five per cent. Prices have been from fifty cents to one dollar per bushel, and dried apples five cents per pound. I employ farm hands at from ten dollars to eighteen dollars per month.
THOMAS W. SMITH, Baxter Springs, Cherokee county: Have lived in Kansas twenty-eight years. My trees were destroyed in the storm of 1895. For commercial purposes I prefer Ben Davis, Winesap, and Missouri Pippin. Prefer hilltop with an east slope. I cultivate at six years; seed a bearing orchard to clover. Windbreaks are not essential. Never thinned apples. Pasture my orchard with cows and horses. Prices during winter have been forty cents per bushel.
S. H. BAILEY, Uniontown, Bourbon county: I have lived in Kansas fifteen years, and have an orchard of 150 apple trees thirty years old. I prefer Canada Pippin [Downing calls this White Pippin], Ben Davis, Rome Beauty, Jonathan, Missouri Pippin, and Maiden's Blush, for all purposes. I prefer hillside land, with a northeastern slope. I plant apple trees thirty feet apart each way. I cultivate in potatoes, corn, or any hoed crop, using a hoe and cultivator. I sow a bearing orchard to clover, and cease cropping at ten or twelve years. Windbreaks are essential, and I would make them of Osage orange planted thirty feet from the trees. I prune a little every year, to get rid of dead limbs, and also thin out the center of trees, to improve the fruit. I use a saw and knife. My trees are in block. It is beneficial to mulch with old hay or straw in drought. I pasture my orchard with small calves, but would not advise it, as it does not pay. I sprayed with a pump, using London purple, but it did little good. I cut borers out, and then pour coal-oil in the holes. I hand-pick my apples in a sack, using a ladder. I sort into two classes--good and second best. If for home use, I put them in rail pens for about three weeks; then sort out the good ones and make cider of the culls. I pack in three-bushel barrels, and ship to Kansas City. I sell my best apples to shippers. I dry and make cider of the second- and third-class apples, and feed the culls to the hogs and cows. I store some for home use, and would store more if I had cold storage. We have to repack stored apples before selling, and lose about one-half of them. I have sold Canada Pippins from fifty cents to two dollars per bushel. I employ men and boys, and pay from fifty cents to seventy-five cents per day and board.