and
reddest; second, smaller and paler; third, rough and poor. I prefer
three-bushel barrels to pack in; fill as full as possible, and mark with
my name. I sell in orchard, also wholesale. Leave culls on ground. My
best market is home; the buyers come and get them. I store in barrels,
and find that Minkler and Mammoth Black Twig keep best. I got $1000 for
805 barrels last year. I employ young men and boys, and pay $1.25 to
$1.50 per day.

* * * * *

ELI HOFFMAN, Donegal, Dickinson county: Have been in Kansas nineteen
years. Have 500 apple trees, nine years planted, made up of 150 Ben
Davis, 150 Missouri Pippin, 75 Winesap, and 125 of summer and fall
varieties. I prefer bottom land; don't want hilltop, unless level; don't
want any slope; would subsoil the year before planting, then plant
twenty-four feet apart each way the following year. Grow corn or
potatoes the first four years, and after that, nothing. Cultivate up to
nine years old; the disc and corn cultivator are good the first years; I
keep it as clean as a California orange grove; cease cropping after four
years. I think windbreaks are necessary, and would make them of a double
row of mulberries eight feet apart. For rabbits I put wire screen around
the trees. I use the pruning-knife and saw to give air. I would not
pasture an orchard. Have not sprayed, but intend to, with London purple.

* * * * *

E. M. GLASPEY, Nortonville, Jefferson county: Have lived in Kansas
fourteen years. Have 700 apple trees from twenty to twenty-five years
old. Prefer Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin and Winesap for market; and
Winesap, Golden Sweet and Early Harvest for family use. I prefer bottom
land with a north aspect, soil suitable for wheat is good for apples;
would turn in cattle after the crop is gathered, and think it pays. When
the bloom falls I spray with London purple. I pick in half-bushel
baskets and place in large piles in the orchard. I sort into three
grades; No. 1 is best, which I generally sell to shippers; No. 2 next,
which I sell in the city to families or to dealers; the culls I peddle
out, and also make into cider. My best market is Atchison. I shipped
once to a commission house in Topeka, but it did not pay. I never dry
any; sometimes I store for winter in bulk in the cellar, and find that
Missouri Pippin and Willow Twig keep the best. I employ men and boys at
seventy-five cents to one dollar per day