G. O. VICK, Fowler, Meade county: Have lived in Kansas fourteen years. I planted an apple orchard twelve years ago; have about fifty Missouri Pippins, that have not failed to give us a crop for seven or eight years; last fall we got three bushels from a single tree--the most ever taken from one tree by us. They are fine keepers, and are said to be much better, both in color and flavor, than those grown farther east. We have kept them in fine condition until July following, and then the supply gave out. Have no trees where they can be irrigated, but hope to put out an orchard next spring that can be irrigated. I have the finest location [for irrigation] in the West, and will do my best. I prefer valley land, with a southeast slope. Prices have been two dollars per bushel.
C. A. BLACKMORE, Sharon, Barber county: I have lived in the state about five years; have an orchard of 1100 apple trees, three years old, two inches in diameter, seven feet high. For market I prefer Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Winesap, Early Harvest, Benoni, and Maiden's Blush. When planting a family orchard select varieties from the earliest to the latest, that they may be well supplied. In planting a commercial orchard I would study the wants and demands of the people, also the varieties best adapted to our soil and climate. Do not be like an experiment station and plant all varieties catalogued. A mongrel orchard, like mongrel stock, is not good property. The man who has a hundred bushels of some one good variety of apples can always get the best price for them; but if the hundred bushels consisted of ten or a dozen varieties there would not be enough of any one variety to attract a buyer, and consequently he must take what he can get for them. Select such varieties as the market demands, and then confine your planting to as few varieties as possible, and your commercial orchard will attract buyers. I prefer a bottom, with a dark, sandy or red land, with a reddish clay subsoil, north or northeast slope. I plant thrifty two-year-old trees, in ground plowed deeply and marked off with a lister sixteen by thirty feet; then set the trees four to six inches deeper than they stood in the nursery, in holes dug at the crossings. I haul my trees to the field in a barrel two-thirds full of water, take them out one at a time and trim all the broken and long roots, arranging them in natural positions and turning the ends down in the hole, leaning the tree toward the two P. M. sun; then I fill the hole, using a rammer while a boy shovels the dirt in. If the soil is dry pour two or three gallons of water on the roots. When the water has soaked away finish filling the hole, and tramp the soil lightly around the tree. When they are all set, cut them well back.