I prefer hilltop having a drift soil, but the subsoil is of more importance than the surface soil. I prefer a north or northeast aspect. I prefer two-year-old, medium-sized trees, clear of root aphis, set in a dead furrow, with peach trees between north and south. I cultivate my trees six years after planting, with a plow and five-tooth one-horse cultivator. Plant the young orchard to corn; cease cropping after six or seven years, and then seed down to clover. Windbreaks are essential; would make them by planting one to six rows of Osage orange, red cedar or catalpas all around the orchard. The boys hunt the rabbits with shot-guns. I wash the trees with a carbolic-acid wash for borers. I prune with a knife and saw to balance the top, keep down watersprouts, and to get rid of useless wood. I think it pays and is beneficial, as it shades the body of the tree and keeps off the flathead borers. I do not thin the fruit. Can see no difference whether trees are in blocks of one variety, or mixed plantings. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter all over the ground, and wood ashes around the trees, but do not believe it pays, and would not advise it on all soils; any soil that is suitable for an orchard will not need enriching until after it ceases to be profitable. I pasture my orchard with hogs and calves; I think it advisable under certain conditions, and find it pays. My trees are troubled with root aphis, roundhead borers and buffalo tree-crickets; and my apples with codling-moth. I do not spray. I pick my apples by hand, from a ladder, into a sack with a strap over the shoulder. I sell the bulk of my apples in the orchard, from piles, at wholesale and retail; sell the grocers and fruit dealers what are left of my best apples. Make cider of the second and third grades of apples. Feed the culls to the hogs. My best market is in Topeka. Never tried distant markets. Do not dry any. I store some apples for winter in bulk, in boxes and in barrels in a cellar. I have to repack stored apples before marketing. Apples have been about forty cents a bushel in the orchard for the last ten years.
E. HIGGINS, Seabrook, Shawnee county: I have lived in Kansas twenty-six years; have an apple orchard of 250 trees twenty-five years old. For market I prefer Winesap, Jonathan, Maiden's Blush, Smith's Cider, and Ben Davis; for family orchard, Winesap, Jonathan, Maiden's Blush, Red June, and Grimes's Golden Pippin. Have tried and discarded Kansas Keeper on account of blight. I prefer hilltop; best below lime rock, with a northeast slope. I prefer two-year-old, low-headed trees, set thirty feet each way. I plant to corn for four years, then cease cropping, and seed to clover. I have a windbreak on the south side made of Osage orange, to keep the hot winds off. I prune lightly to thin out some of the middle branches; I think it pays. I do not thin my fruit. I fertilize my orchard with stable litter, and plow it under. I think it beneficial, and would advise its use on all soils. I sow my orchard to oats, and pasture with hogs with rings in their noses; they live on the oats, and don't hurt the trees, but with the help of the chickens they keep the canker-worms off. My trees are troubled with round- and flathead borers. I do not spray. I hand-pick my apples; sort into two classes--shipping and cider. I sell my apples in the home market; sell second and third grades to the cider-mills. Never tried distant markets. I do not dry any. I am successful in storing apples in bulk in a cellar; find Winesap to keep best. Prices have been from fifty to sixty cents per bushel. I employ young men at seventeen dollars per month.