SAM JONES, Springfield, Seward county: I have lived in Kansas thirteen years. Have an apple orchard of fifty trees. I am not keeping them for the fruit, but for the pleasure of the birds--to build nests and sing their sweet songs in. I cultivate my orchard all the time to keep the weeds down; plant it to vines, such as squashes, pumpkins, melons, etc. Do not pasture my orchard. I do not know of anybody that ever irrigated. In regard to "the Kansas Apple," in this part of the state, they are no good. I will say there never was ten bushels of apples grown in Seward county. I planted out two acres of apple trees ten years ago; they grew, and looked very well. I took good care of them, but they never would bear; and that is the experience of every one else. I cannot tell the cause, unless it gets too dry and hot, with hot winds. [Such things were said of the whole state of Kansas by many intelligent men thirty years ago. Mr. Jones does not tell what varieties he tried, and his remarks need not discourage any whose lot is cast in Seward county. While there are only 1034 apple trees reported in the whole county, yet the low price of trees should encourage every farmer to plant a few of the hardier varieties, if only as an experiment.--Secretary.] * * * * * JOSEPH BAINUM, Langdon, Reno county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-five years. Have an apple orchard of twenty trees, most of them ten years old. For market I prefer Missouri Pippin and Winesap, and for family would add Early Pennock and Maiden's Blush. Ben Davis would not do any good for me. I prefer bottom or table land with a heavy subsoil and a northern slope. I prefer two-year-old trees with low heads, set in a ditch. I cultivate my orchard to corn as long as I can get in with a plow; I also use a disc and harrow. I cease cropping when the trees need all the moisture; do not plant anything in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are essential; would make them of mulberry trees, set thirty or forty feet away from the orchard. For rabbits I use axle grease and sulphur mixed. I prune, leaving the tops low, and thin out the branches so as to give air and produce larger fruit; it has paid me. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter but do not put it close to the trees; I think it beneficial, and would advise its use on all soils. I have pastured my orchard with cattle and hogs; do not think it advisable; it does not pay. Trees are troubled with flathead borer and leaf-roller, and my apples with codling-moth. I have sprayed, but not lately, with London purple for codling-moth, just after the blossoms fell; it did not pay--did not reduce the codling-moth any. I go after insects not affected by spraying with a small wire. I pick my apples by hand in half-bushel baskets; sort into three classes--largest and sound, second best, and cider. I wholesale, retail, and peddle, and make the culls into cider and vinegar. Never have tried distant markets. I dry some