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
E. M. GLASPEY, Nortonville, Jefferson county: Have lived in Kansas
fourteen years. Have 700 apple trees from twenty to twenty-five years
old. Prefer Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin and Winesap for market; and
Winesap, Golden Sweet and Early Harvest for family use. I prefer bottom
land with a north aspect, soil suitable for wheat is good for apples;
would turn in cattle after the crop is gathered, and think it pays. When
the bloom falls I spray with London purple. I pick in half-bushel
baskets and place in large piles in the orchard. I sort into three
grades; No. 1 is best, which I generally sell to shippers; No. 2 next,
which I sell in the city to families or to dealers; the culls I peddle
out, and also make into cider. My best market is Atchison. I shipped
once to a commission house in Topeka, but it did not pay. I never dry
any; sometimes I store for winter in bulk in the cellar, and find that
Missouri Pippin and Willow Twig keep the best. I employ men and boys at
seventy-five cents to one dollar per day.
* * * * *
W. H. TUCKER, Effingham, Atchison county: Has lived in Kansas
thirty-eight years; has an orchard of 500 trees, 200 of them planted
twenty years and 300 planted six years. Advises for commercial orchard
Ben Davis, Gano, and Missouri Pippin, and adds to them for family
orchard Early Harvest, Maiden's Blush, Genneting, and Jonathan. Has
discarded Smith's Cider. Prefers rich, sandy upland with red clay
subsoil, with a northeast slope. He planted vigorous four-year-old
trees, first plowing, then twice harrowing; then furrow out deeply each
way thirty feet apart, and set a tree at each crossing. He cultivates
with ordinary tools from six to eight years, until trees begin to bear,
growing corn, potatoes or beans in the orchard; then seeds to clover.
Believes windbreaks essential and makes his of soft maple, ash, and
walnut. For rabbits he uses Frazer's axle grease, and kills borers with
knife. Prunes little until after the trees are fifteen years old; prunes
only to give shape and keep from being too brushy. Uses stable manure
and lime as fertilizers and believes it would pay on all soils he ever
saw. Pastures his old orchard with hogs at certain times of the year,
and says it pays. Is troubled some with insects, and sprays twice each
year with London purple. Has not been fully successful. Picks in baskets
and sacks. Makes two grades--selects and sound fair size. Packs only in
barrels; often sells in orchard. For last few years has used a few culls
for vinegar, and let the rest rot on the ground. Best market is at home.
Has tried distant markets and made it pay. Never dries any, and for the
last six years has stored none for winter. Prices have ranged from
twenty to forty cents per bushel. Uses farm help at seventy-five cents
to one dollar per day.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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