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. S. WEATHERBY, Le Roy, Coffey county: Have lived in Kansas
twenty-seven years. Have 500 apple trees, twelve years planted, six
inches in diameter. Grow only Ben Davis, Winesap, and Missouri Pippin.
Have discarded Willow Twig on account of blight. My location is in the
bottom, with rich loam and sandy subsoil. I have planted in rows
thirty-two feet distant; cultivate in corn for four years after
planting, and use the disc harrow as much as possible. In a bearing
orchard I would put clover. Believe windbreaks are essential, made of
any kind of forest-trees, planted thickly, in two or three rows around
the orchard, and cultivated while small. Protect from rabbits with a dog
and gun, and also by wrapping the trees. Prune very little; simply keep
down sprouts and remove crossed limbs. Have never thinned on the tree,
and believe barn-yard litter useful as a fertilizer. I pasture with a
few calves, but think it does not pay. Am troubled with some insect, and
spray moderately in May with London purple, for web-worm and
leaf-crumpler. Pick from the wagon, driving under the trees. Sell at
both wholesale and retail, and my best market is the commercial buyer.
Feed my culls mostly to the pigs. Never have dried any, nor stored any
for winter. Have a pipe running from my water-tank, by which means have
watered a few trees for a number of years, and these trees are very
large and yield very fine fruit. If I were to start again, instead of
planting 500 apple trees I would plant sixty, and dig a well and put a
windmill in the midst of them; and I am confident I would get more
satisfactory returns.
* * * * *
J. A. MULLINEAUX, Cherryvale, Montgomery county: I have been in Kansas
twenty-nine years. Have 350 apple trees of various ages and sizes,
mainly Ben Davis and Missouri Pippin. Have tried and discarded the
Romanite as too small. I prefer bottom or second-bottom land, red soil,
with sandy subsoil, and a south slope. I plant two-year-old trees in the
spring, 32x32 feet; cultivate for four years, growing oats as a crop;
also grow oats in a bearing orchard. Believe windbreaks or an
Osage-orange hedge are beneficial. I tie corn-stalks around my trees to
keep off the rabbits. I never prune at all. Do not thin fruit on the
trees. I fertilize with stable litter while trees are young. Believe it
pays to pasture orchards with hogs, as they destroy worms. I am troubled
some with borers, web-worms, and codling-moth, but have never practiced
spraying. I pick by hand, and sort into first and second classes, and
pack in bushel boxes, selling at wholesale; haul to market on a rack;
make my culls into cider. My best market is Cherryvale. Never have
dried any. Do not irrigate. I store for winter in bulk in the cellar,
and am successful in keeping Missouri Pippin and Ben Davis. Price here
is $1.50 per bushel.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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