JACOB REDIGER, Maherville, Barton county: I have lived in Kansas twelve years. Have an apple orchard of 200 trees eighteen years old. I prefer sandy bottom land near the river, with a north slope. I cultivate my orchard all the time with a disc and harrow, planting no crop. Windbreaks are not essential. I prune with a saw and knife, and think it pays. Never have thinned my apples, but if it were necessary would do it before they begin to hang down. My trees are in mixed plantings. I mulch my orchard with stable litter and straw; would not advise its use on all soils. I do not pasture my orchard, but think it would be advisable, as they would eat insects. My trees are troubled with flathead borer, and my apples with curculio. The first of June I dig the borers out with a penknife and cut their heads off. I pick my apples by hand. I sell apples in the orchard at retail; feed the culls to hogs. My best market is among the neighbors. I store apples for my own use by burying, and find the Missouri Pippin, Ben Davis and Romanite keep best. I do not irrigate, but ought to. Prices have been from fifty cents to one dollar per bushel at picking time.
N. MAYRATH, Dodge, Ford county: I have lived in Kansas twenty years. Have 250 apple trees eight to twelve years old, six to ten inches in diameter. I prefer upland for fruit, a sandy loam, with a northern aspect. I prefer two-year-old grafts, planted thirty by thirty feet east and west. Have tried root grafts with success. I cultivate my orchard to garden-truck and hoed crops, using plow in spring, then the disc or Acme harrow. I keep the ground clear of weeds and mellow up to the middle of July. I cease cropping after four or five years, planting nothing in a bearing orchard. Windbreaks are essential here in western Kansas, and I would make them of Russian mulberry, in one or more rows, north and south of the orchard.
M. M. WILSON, Zionville, Grant county: I have resided in Kansas fourteen years; have an apple orchard of 300 trees ten years old, four to six inches in diameter. I prefer sandy bottom land.
THOMAS E. HOCKETT, Hugoton, Stevens county: I have lived in the state thirteen years; have an apple orchard of sixty trees eight years old, eight to twelve feet high. I prefer dark, sandy loam. I dig large holes, set one-year-old trees, putting top soil around the roots. I cultivate my orchard with a stirring plow and hoe, and plant nothing; am still cultivating. Windbreaks are essential. I would make them of two or three rows of mulberry trees. For protection from rabbits I rub dead rabbit on the tree, and repeat if necessary when we have much rain. I prune very little. Do not thin the fruit while on the trees. My trees are planted in blocks. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter; think it beneficial, and would advise its use on all soils. I do not pasture my orchard. I do not spray; am not troubled with insects. I hand-pick my apples. I do not dry or store any for market. I do not irrigate.