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
S. F. C. GARRISON, El Dorado, Butler county: I have lived in Kansas
twenty-seven years; have an apple orchard of 1000 trees, twenty to
twenty-five years old, ten to twelve inches in diameter. I prefer for
commercial purposes Ben Davis, Winesap, King of Tompkins County, and
Rawle's Janet; and for family orchard Maiden's Blush, Milam, Jonathan,
and Sweet Bough. Have tried and discarded Keswick Codlin, Willow Twig
and Dominie on account of blight. I prefer second bottom, reddish soil,
with liver-red subsoil, and a north slope. I prefer two-year-old,
short-trunk, smooth and round trees. In planting, plow both ways with a
coulter and subsoiler, then dig out. I cultivate my orchard to corn for
three or four years, using a plow; I cease cropping after eight years,
and plant nothing in a bearing orchard. I use sulphur mixed with axle
grease to protect against rabbits. For borers I use fish oil spurted in
with sewing-machine oiler. I prune the under limbs to prevent hanging on
the ground. It does not pay, and is not very beneficial. I thin Rawle's
Janet apples when the smallest ones are as large as marbles. My trees
are in mixed plantings. I fertilize with stable litter, and think it
beneficial; but would not advise its use on all soils. Never pasture my
orchard. My trees are troubled with canker-worm, root aphis, twig-borer,
leaf-roller, and bark-louse, and my apples with curculio. I spray with
London purple and strychnine when the leaves are small; think I have
reduced the codling-moth. I pick my apples (from step-ladders where
high) into baskets. Sort into three classes: cider, specked, and sound.
We leave them in piles until they sweat, then dry and sort. I prefer
two-and-one-half bushel barrels, packed with a nice layer on the bottom
(this will be top when opened), then mark with the name of fruit, and
haul to market by rail or wagon. I sell in orchard, wholesale, retail,
and peddle, and make cider of the culls. My best markets are Wichita,
Pueblo, Leadville, the Strip, and Eldorado. Have tried distant markets,
but it does not pay.
I never dry any for market. I store some apples for winter market in
bulk; am not very successful; find Winesap keeps the best. Have to
repack stored apples before marketing; lose about ten per cent. I do not
irrigate. Prices have been from twenty-five cents to one dollar per
bushel; dried apples, four and one-half cents per pound. I employ young
men, at from seventy-five cents to one dollar per day. I have sprayed
carefully for three years, and am glad to report no worms this year
[1898]. Winesap not full--too full and dry last year, Maiden's Blush
full, Rawle's Janet very full, Sweet Bough full, Limber Twig full, Milam
full, Ben Davis fair, Northern Spy fair, Little Romanite light, Jonathan
light, Willow Twig and King (of Tompkins county) full, Talman Sweet
full, and Pound Sweet full.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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