THOMAS BROWN, Palmer, Washington county: I have resided in the state twenty-eight years. Have an apple orchard of 500 trees from three to twenty years old. For a commercial orchard I prefer Winesap, Missouri Pippin, and Ben Davis, and for family orchard Cooper's Early White, Maiden's Blush, and Jonathan. I prefer sandy land on an east slope. I plant trees in rows sixteen by twenty-one feet. I mulch my orchard with straw, and plow every three or four years. Windbreaks are essential; I would make them of maple or box-elders, planted around the orchard. I prune some, but it does not pay. I do not thin the fruit while on the trees. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter; I think it beneficial, and would advise its use on all soils. I pasture my orchard some with swine, but it is not advisable; it does not pay. My trees are troubled with fall web-worms. I do not spray. I pick my apples by hand. I sometimes sell the apples in the orchard at retail. My best market is at home; I never tried distant markets. I do not dry any. Am successful in storing apples in boxes and barrels in a cellar. Winesap and Missouri Pippin keep best. I never tried cold storage. I have to repack stored apples before marketing, losing about one-third of them. I do not irrigate. Prices have been about fifty cents per bushel. * * * * * D. J. FRASER, Peabody, Marion county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-three years; have 380 apple trees ten inches in diameter, twenty-two years planted. I prefer for commercial purposes Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Grimes's Golden Pippin, and Maiden's Blush; and for family use would add Early Harvest, Sweet June, and Winesap; have tried and discarded about thirty other varieties, because they did not yield or were subject to disease. I prefer bottom land, with north slope, made land. I plow out deep, dead furrow; set trees and plow the earth back to the trees. I prefer two- or three-year-old strong trees. Have tried root grafts and seedlings with good success. I cultivate the trees the first ten years with the plow and harrow. I grow nothing in a young orchard, and seed the old orchard to clover. I think windbreaks are essential on the south, and would make them of Osage orange or mulberry, planted in double rows, a few feet apart. Wrap trees for rabbits, and for borers keep trees thrifty. I prune some to keep the top balanced, and think it beneficial. I have thinned fruit some, but do not think it pays. My trees are in mixed plantings, and I keep bees. I have used fertilizer, but could not see much benefit; would advise it only on thin soils. I have pastured my orchard with hogs, and think it advisable; it pays. My trees are bothered with canker-worm, root aphis, flathead borer, and twig-borer; the codling-moth troubles my apples. I have sprayed with Bordeaux mixture, London purple, and Paris green; could not see much good; have reduced the codling-moth some. I pick my apples the old-fashioned way--with a sack.