The Apple: The Kansas Apple, the Big Red Apple; the Luscious, Red-Cheeked First Love of the Farmer's Boy; the Healthful, Hearty Heart of the Darling Dumpling. What It Is; How to Grow It; Its Commercial and Economic Importance; How to Utilize It.
Science
The Apple: The Kansas Apple, the Big Red Apple; the Luscious, Red-Cheeked First Love of the Farmer's Boy; the Healthful, Hearty Heart of the Darling Dumpling. What It Is; How to Grow It; Its Commercial and Economic Importance; How to Utilize It.
Apples
M. D. WELTNER, Westmoreland, Pottawatomie county: Have been in Kansas
eighteen years. Planted 800 apple trees ten years ago. I do not own this
orchard at present. I planted Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Winesap,
Jonathan, and Maiden's Blush. I prefer sandy or black loam, with clay
subsoil, bottom land or gentle slope to the north. I set good, thrifty,
clean, two-year-old trees. I thoroughly plow my ground, then run a
lister for the row, and throw out with spade or shovel where the trees
are to go. I cultivate with potatoes and corn, using the plow, harrow,
and five-tooth cultivator, until ten or twelve years old, then sow to
clover. I use no windbreaks. For rabbits I wrap with building paper or
wire screen. I believe it pays to prune with the knife and saw a little
each year, to train the tree to grace, beauty, and profit. I never tried
thinning fruit. Would fertilize with a little stable litter spread over
the ground. Never would pasture an orchard. Had some canker-worm and
curculio, but never tried spraying. I pick from a step-ladder into a
shoulder sack.
* * * * *
V. E. HATHAWAY, Council Grove, Morris county: Have lived in Kansas
thirty years; have an orchard of 1000 trees two to twelve inches in
diameter. Have tried and discarded Willow Twig and Smith's Cider on
account of blight. I prefer a gravel or clay bottom with northern slope.
I prefer healthy trees set forty by twenty feet. I cultivate my orchard
to corn until too large, plowing very shallow. Windbreaks are
beneficial; would make them of cedar. I prune by cutting out the inner
limbs that rub; I think it pays. I do not thin the fruit on the trees. I
sometimes fertilize with stable litter; would advise its use on all
soils. I do not pasture my orchard; do not think it advisable. My trees
are troubled with canker-worm, and my fruit by codling-moth. I spray
just after the blooms fall with London purple, and think I have reduced
the codling-moth. I dig out insects not affected by spraying. I pick my
fruit from inside of tree from a ladder. Sort into three classes. Pack
in apple barrels, pressed down, and marked with the quality; then
transport to market on a wagon. I wholesale, retail, and peddle;
sometimes sell in the orchard. Feed the culls to hogs. My best market is
at home; never tried distant markets. Do not dry any. I store apples in
boxes or barrels, and am successful. I find Missouri Pippin, Winesap and
Ben Davis keep best. We have to repack stored apples before marketing,
and lose about one-eighth or one-tenth. I do not irrigate. Prices have
been from fifty cents to one dollar per bushel.
* * * * *
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