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
W. J. BRUMAGE, Beloit, Mitchell county: Have lived in Kansas twenty-four
years; have an orchard of 1000 very large apple trees, from twelve to
twenty years old. For commercial purposes would prefer Ben Davis,
Winesap, Missouri Pippin, Duchess of Oldenburg, Early Harvest, Red June,
Willow Twig, Maiden's Blush, Cooper's Early White, and Pewaukee, and for
family orchard Ben Davis, Winesap, Early Harvest, Maiden's Blush, and
Duchess of Oldenburg. I prefer hilltop, clay loam, with northeast slope.
I plow a ditch and set two-year-old trees a little deeper than they were
in the nursery. Have tried root-grafts and seedlings; were no good. I
cultivate with garden-truck until twelve or fourteen years old, using a
plow to stir the ground, and seed bearing orchard to grass. I use no
windbreaks. I prune to keep the tree from getting bushy; I think it
beneficial. I never thin my fruit. Cannot see any difference in trees
whether planted in blocks or mixed up. Use no fertilizer, and would not
advise its use. Do not pasture orchard; do not think it advisable. My
trees are troubled with canker-worm, flathead borers, twig-borer, and
leaf roller. Codling-moth and curculio trouble my fruit. I spray with
London purple, using a pump, just after the blossom falls, for the
codling-moth, and think I have reduced them. I pick my fruit by hand,
and pack in barrels. I sort into two classes, good and bad. Have sold
them in the orchard; sometimes retail; my best market is home; have
never tried distant markets. I make vinegar of the culls. Never dry any.
Store some for winter market in bulk in a cave; am successful; Winesap,
Willow Twig and Ben Davis keep the best. Have never tried artificial
cold storage. Have to repack stored apples before marketing; we lose
about one-fourth. Do not irrigate. Prices average about fifty cents per
bushel.
* * * * *
JOHN E. DAVID, Winona, Logan county: Have lived in Kansas thirteen
years; have an apple orchard of ninety trees from seven to ten years
old. I prefer level land, black loam with a clay subsoil, and an eastern
slope. I prefer thrifty, healthy trees, set in holes three feet deep. I
cultivate my orchard to beans and melons, using a cultivator and plow
for six years; then cease cropping. Windbreaks are essential; would make
them of honey-locust, planted in rows on north [?] and south. For
protection from rabbits I use wire screening, and dig the borers out. I
prune my trees with a knife to give big growth, and think it beneficial.
I never thin my apples while on the trees. My trees are planted in
blocks. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter; think it beneficial
and would advise it out here. I never pasture my orchard. Am not
troubled with insects. Do not spray. Do not irrigate.
* * * * *
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