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
Practically, the crop has been so light
that very few have been sold, and they were fall apples. Have never
dried any; have never stored any. Do not irrigate. Prices have been
unsatisfactory.
* * * * *
J. B. MOSHER, Lawrenceburg, Cloud county: I have lived in Kansas
seventeen years. Have an orchard of 150 trees, planted from one to
seventeen years. For family orchard would plant Early Harvest, Cooper's
Early, Duchess of Oldenburg, Grimes's Golden Pippin, Winesap, Rawle's
Janet, and Ben Davis. Medium elevation, with northern or northeastern
slope, and clay-loam soil with clay subsoil, is preferable. When
planting, I dig a hole large enough to receive the roots, and plant
healthy two-year-old trees, trained to a switch, so that I can train the
top to suit. Have tried root grafts and seedlings; both have done well.
I cultivate while the trees are young, and use only harrow and
mowing-machine after they begin to bear. I plant any hoed crop among the
trees while young, and cease when the trees begin to bear. I think
windbreaks essential, and use maple, box-elder, and Scotch pine. For
rabbits I use traps and shot-gun. I use a knife for the borers. I prune
when the tree needs it; use the saw on large trees and the knife on
small trees. I thin the fruit sometimes when it sets too thickly, as
soon as it shows, and it pays most emphatically. I cannot see any
difference in trees whether set in blocks or mixed up. I use some
barn-yard fertilizer, and think it beneficial; would advise its use as
the trees begin to bear. I pasture my orchard with pigs and poultry;
think it advisable, and think it pays.
My trees are troubled with bud moth, flathead borer, and twig-borer;
some seasons I also have leaf-roller and leaf-crumpler. The codling-moth
troubles my apples. I spray some to destroy these insects, with indigo
and London purple, using a pump. I do not know that I have reduced the
codling-moth any. For borer I form a basin around the tree and fill with
water, repeating several times; I sometimes pick them. I use an ordinary
fruit ladder, and sack with ends tied together and swung over the
shoulder. I make but one class, viz., market all the perfect apples. I
carefully put in a fruit-house and let stay a week or so, then carefully
sort over by removing all unsound or faulty ones. I do not ship. I have
a good market at home. I never sell in the orchard; usually market in
bushel boxes. I usually feed second- or third-class fruit to hogs. My
best market is Concordia. Have never tried distant markets. I have never
dried any apples. I store some for winter use in an ordinary cellar; am
successful, and find Winesap, Rawle's Janet and Missouri Pippin keep the
best. We have to repack after storing, and lose about one-third. I do
not irrigate. Winesap, Missouri Pippin and Rawle's Janet usually sell at
one dollar per bushel; Ben Davis, at seventy-five cents per bushel.
* * * * *
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