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
C. L. GUNN, Heizer, Barton county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-one
years. Have an apple orchard of 110 trees, from ten to twenty-five years
old; the largest ones are fifteen inches in diameter. For market I
prefer Missouri Pippin, Maiden's Blush, and Duchess of Oldenburg, and
for family orchard Early Harvest and White Winter Pearmain. I prefer
creek bottom with a loose and porous soil and subsoil. Young trees
should not be headed too low, as the lower limbs will lay on the ground
when the tree gets older and begins to bear. I cultivate my trees until
too large, using a disc harrow. I do not plant any crop; do not think it
advisable in this dry climate. Windbreaks are essential; would make them
of forest-trees, on the north and south. I prune my trees, but have not
had enough experience to tell whether it is beneficial or not. I thin my
fruit while on the trees to prevent the limbs from breaking. I do not
fertilize; it is not needed here. I do not pasture my orchard; it is not
advisable. My apples are troubled with codling-moth and curculio. I
spray with London purple about the time the blossoms fall. I do not dry
any apples nor irrigate. Price has been seventy-five cents per bushel.
* * * * *
JOHN SIMON, Garden City, Finney county: I have lived in the state
eighteen years; have an apple orchard of 150 trees, from two to fifteen
years old. For market I prefer Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, and Winesap;
and for family orchard Early Harvest, Jonathan, Missouri Pippin, and
Winesap. Have tried and discarded Russet and Willow Twig. I prefer
second bottom, sandy soil, with clay subsoil. I prefer one- or
two-year-old trees, set twenty-five to forty feet apart. I plant my
orchard to garden-truck, using a disc harrow, and cease cropping when
they begin to bear. I plant nothing in a bearing orchard, but keep up
the cultivation to keep the ground clean and loose. Windbreaks are
essential; would make them of cottonwood, box-elder, and Osage orange,
putting a belt of timber around the orchard. For rabbits I wrap with
corn-stalks in the fall. I prune with knife and shears to keep the tree
in shape; I think it pays. I never have thinned the fruit while on the
tree, but think it would pay on some varieties. I fertilize my orchard
with stable litter while I am cropping the ground; but would not advise
its use unless you have plenty of water. I do not pasture my orchard; it
is not advisable, and does not pay. My trees are troubled with
twig-borer, canker-worm, and leaf-roller, and my fruit with
codling-moth. I spray when the bloom falls, and ten days later, with
London purple, for codling-moth; and I think I have reduced them. Borers
do not trouble my trees when they have plenty of water. I hand-pick my
apples; sort into three classes--first, second, and refuse. I sell some
apples in the orchard, but retail most of them to the stores; make cider
of the third grade and culls. My best market is at home. I do not dry
any.
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