A SUMMARY OF THE FOREGOING DISTRICT REPORTS.
Ben Davis is the leading market apple, followed closely by Missouri Pippin. These two lead all others, and are followed by Winesap and Jonathan. Rawle"s Janet, York Imperial, Huntsman"s Favorite, Grimes"s Golden Pippin and Maiden"s Blush are also favorites. We find the Yellow Bellflower, Newtown Pippin, Lawver and a few others are condemned all over the state.
In the eastern third of the state hilltop or slope is preferred to bottom land, but in the central and western portions bottom land is preferred. The reason for this is obvious. Any good soil is satisfactory, if subsoil is porous.
The favorite distance seems to be thirty-two feet east and west and sixteen to twenty feet north and south, some putting peach or early-bearing apples between, the wide way, to be cut out when they crowd. This undoubtedly brings the quickest returns, but many believe it robs the permanent trees of their future sustenance.
Twenty-four prefer one-year-old trees; 7 one to two years old; 153 two-year-old; 10 two- to three-year-old; 21 three-year-old; 3 want four-year-old, and 59 give no age. It is only a matter of cost and convenience. A one-year-old tree costs less and allows the would-be orchardist to set more trees for a given amount of cash. The one- and two-year-old trees require the removal of less earth, and are more readily handled and planted. There is no reason why an apple tree three inches in diameter cannot be transplanted as easily as an elm or maple.
A man is willing to set a few large shade-trees at a cost of one dollar to five dollars per tree, but cannot feel that it is economy to set orchard trees at as great individual expense.
"Whole-root grafts" is a misleading appellation, as it will be found to be only a crown graft. Its advocates make great claims that are at variance with the facts. There can scarcely be such a thing unless grafted on a seedling without removal of such seedling from the earth.
Our best nurserymen prefer the second cut, about one and one-half to three inches taken from the seedling root a couple of inches below the crown. In any case the piece of root taken has little influence on the future tree. All our ordinary varieties make roots from the scion, and the original seedling root may be found--like the piece of potato we plant--shriveled and useless in the midst of the new roots. The nature of the root growth shows this plainly, as all its peculiarities will be found to be a counterpart of the roots of the variety from which the scion was cut. It is folly to pay any added price for so-called "whole-root grafts."
A very great majority believe in thorough cultivation, at least for from six to ten years; some during the life of the tree. Nearly all agree that Indian corn is the best crop to grow in a young orchard; it shades the ground, and protects from wind. The corn in a young orchard should not be cut in the fall, neither should the stalks be pastured; let them stand till spring as a partial protection; it pays.
Many parts of the state, especially the western half, believe windbreaks on the south and west very valuable, if not quite necessary.
Forest-trees with the outside row or rows of Russian mulberries, and perhaps an Osage orange hedge, seem to meet the general opinion.
As a protection from rabbits, the ever-present corn-stalks seem most economical, and the favorite. The cost is little, and the boys and girls, or the farmer and his wife, at odd times can put them on. It is an open question as to the benefit or harm of leaving them on permanently for the first five years. It looks slovenly, but certainly has many arguments in its favor.
The serio-comic idea of boring into an apple tree and placing therein sulphur, asafetida or other drugs does not really deserve a serious thought. It is impossible for the tree to a.s.similate these substances, especially sulphur, and carry them to the foliage or fruit for preventive or any other purpose. Boring and plugging--like any other threatened death to the tree--may cause temporary fruitfulness, as also will girdling.
While several washes are claimed to prevent or destroy borers, the large majority of extensive orchardists believe the knife and a hooked wire in the hands of a thoroughgoing employee the best and surest way of knowing that you destroy the larva of this persistent and destructive insect.
Smearing trees with any undiluted grease, especially axle grease made from petroleum refuse, is hazardous, and the man who advises it is an enemy to your orchard. If you have applied it, the sooner you wash it off the longer will your orchard thrive.
Pruning has its advocates, but the Eastern style of a long stem has scarcely a follower in our state; a great majority simply cut out "watersprouts" and limbs that cross or rub, or are wind-broken.
Thinning on the trees has many advocates, but few followers. All admit it would often improve the size and quality, yet most growers believe the difference would not be sufficient to pay for the labor, and it would require skilled labor to do it without injury.
A large number, perhaps a majority, believe it pays to apply fertilizers, more especially barn-yard litter, to the orchard; but cases are known where it has done much harm. All agree that it should be kept away from the body of the tree.
As to pasturing the orchard, some think it pays; others that it does no harm; others still--and they are many--condemn it. The larger proportion of those who pasture confine the stock to calves, colts, and pigs. Some would allow only poultry in the orchard, and the poultry must not roost in the trees. This latter point is an excellent one.
We find we have plenty of insects; this is natural. Insects settle in a country that provides proper food for them and their larva. As apple trees are planted in new localities the insects that delight in apple-tree wood, apple-tree roots, apple-tree foliage and apple-tree fruits immigrate, grow, and multiply.
Spraying or using some preventive or destroyer has become necessary, and the man who believes it unnecessary and intends to trust to nature or providence or G.o.d will find no truer saying than "G.o.d helps those who help themselves." Sit down calmly and watch the worms eat your trees, trust to the woodp.e.c.k.e.r and the sparrows, and you will in time buy apples from your more active, thoroughgoing neighbor, or go without.
Methods of picking do not vary much, yet all agree that it should be done carefully. If shaken from the tree, poured out carelessly, or jolted about in a lumber wagon, it simply increases the culls and decreases the cash returns.
Sorting is done in various ways (a sorting table or device is explained elsewhere), but a majority seem to make three cla.s.ses: First cla.s.s, the unblemished best of each variety; culls, which are the unmarketable, specked, bruised and gnarled fruit; second cla.s.s, which are between the other two, and really valuable for immediate use. In some cases the "second best" have been put in cold storage, and they sold well after the usual fall glut.
Packing: While there are many who handle in a small way in boxes--and the time is near when all fancy apples will be marketed in boxes--yet all the larger growers use barrels, and it is encouraging to find they use full twelve-peck barrels. The eleven-peck barrels should be boycotted out of existence.
Marketing: In our large apple-growing districts the crop is generally wholesaled, either in the orchard or subject to delivery at the railroad, generally in barrels. In the western half of the state the apples are largely taken in bulk, in wagons, hauled farther west and south, and sold at a good profit to the wagoner. Thousands of wagon-loads are thus disposed of every year. The same wagons often appear in the same neighborhood year after year, to the mutual advantage of all. Shipping to distant markets by the growers, especially when consigned, has been generally unsatisfactory. I need not give reasons; my own experience along similar lines makes me "hot under the hat" when I think over it.
Drying is not practiced to the extent that it ought to be. It seems almost a sin to allow so many thousands of bushels of apples to rot on the ground every year simply because the owner lacks faith in his ability to turn them into a product that will keep while he looks up a market. Dried apples are in demand--hundreds of tons of them--and Kansas dried apples stand as good chances to bring as remunerative prices to the manufacturer as those from other states. If the work is economically done a profit is sure. Storing for winter is described elsewhere.
Cold storage, cave storage, and cellar storage: All know that, after the perishable and inferior apples are gone, good winter apples bring sure and large returns. How best to preserve them is a vital question. The art of keeping apples by the artificial cold-storage process is yet imperfect and unsatisfactory, and the losses have been so great that, unless the owner of the plant will take part of the risk, at least to the extent of his fee, he will find the average grower standing back. To lose your apples, and then pay fifty cents per barrel to the man whose ignorance or carelessness may have caused the loss, is a burden too heavy to be borne. The hillside cave is described elsewhere, and the orchardist who has such a cave well built, and gives it careful attention, will save a large portion of the fee, and have his apples always under his own supervision, besides saving in hauling, and perhaps railroad freight to and from a distant cold-storage plant. House cellars, small caves and buried heaps each and all have their advocates, mostly for family use or among the small growers.
It seems to be determined that the Winesap is the better keeper, followed closely by the Missouri Pippin and Ben Davis. Of less marketable varieties, Rawle"s Janet and Rambo seem to keep best. The per cent. of loss, excepting in a few cases, does not seem great considering the (usually) greatly increased value of the sound apples.
The reports from those who irrigate are not as full as we could wish. It is claimed that with irrigation every apple becomes a perfect specimen of its kind; that there are no culls. If this is so, and we hope it is, what a grand opening for those rightly situated.
Our Lakin correspondent sells his apples at top prices at the tree for cash, to men who could but do not heed the injunction, "Go thou and do likewise." Prices, like wages, vary greatly. Apples put on board cars in a northeastern county at twenty cents per bushel often retail in western groceries at one dollar per bushel. The railroad and grocer get the "lion"s share."
On the whole, a close study of all that is in this book ought to give an impetus to the planting of proper varieties, the careful and complete destruction of insects, the growing, picking, packing and marketing of more profitable apples, all to the glory of the Kansas grower and incidentally swelling his bank account. This means better dwellings, better furniture therein, better food on the tables, better education for the children, and more and better literature in the house. If these aims are realized, then the labor of the compiler shall not have been in vain, but will prove to be a help in making Kansas and the Kansas apple known throughout the whole world.
MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES RELATING TO ORCHARDS.
APPLE CULTURE.
A paper read by JACOB GOOD, of Coffeyville, Kan., before the Kansas State Horticultural Society, at a summer meeting in Coffeyville, June 22, 1898.
Beginning in the early Roman period, the apple has been handed down through the successive ages as the standard fruit. True, the hard, bitter, uneatable crab or wild apple of former times was not much like the tempting apple of to-day; yet it is the parent of all, or nearly all, the varieties of apples so much prized at the present time. From its great hardiness, easy cultivation, and long continuance through the whole twelve months, it may be styled the "king" of all fruits. The apple tree is now one of the most widely diffused of fruit-trees, and in the estimation of many is the most valuable. But what has brought about this great change in tree and fruit? The same cause which makes the man of America or Europe superior to the tribes of northern Africa or India.
The same cause by which the most wonderful inventions of any age have been placed before the public, viz., cultivation and constant attention.
Having made these questions a study for twenty-five years or more, and having gathered all the points possible from the experience of the fruit-growers with whom we have come in contact, we have become thoroughly convinced that the growth of a perfect fruit is possible in this climate. One of the main difficulties in a general fruit-growing business is encountered in a hard subsoil--too hard when it is dry and too soft and yielding when wet. Deep and thorough draining is therefore a great requisite in tree culture.
The next step would be the means for securing plenty of moisture. We would first open trenches each way not less than twenty-five feet apart.
They should be thrown out as deep as can be done with a plow, then followed by subsoiler twelve to eighteen inches deep. Draw the surface earth back into the crosses creating a mound. Plant the trees there and fill up the ditches by back-furrowing, and bring the land to a perfect level. It will not pay to plant trees on hard-pan soil without preparation. It is better to avoid the hard-pan altogether, and select a deep, rich subsoil. Trees planted in river bottoms have been known to be vigorous and productive after twenty-five years; while those on the prairie hard-pan planted at the same time have entirely disappeared. The best time for planting is in November, in order that the fiber roots may be ready for the first warm days of February. Nice, healthy trees, from two to three years old, should be selected; cut the tops back and trim off most of the fiber roots. The reason for cutting the tops back is to make the tree more productive, more easily harvested, and to aid in keeping off the tree borers, of which we will speak later. Our orchards should not be allowed to grow up in waste and neglect, neither should they be planted in those things which sap the life of the soil and leave nothing to sustain the tree. One of the main causes of non-productiveness of the apple orchard is land starvation. An orchard cannot produce fruit in addition to a crop of wheat, oats, rye, etc.; and so, if a man continues to take off crops of these every year, he simply does it at the expense of his trees. There are crops, however, which may be used with good effect, such as corn, peas, hay, potatoes, etc. In this the owner gets the profit of his fruit and also the use of his land. Yet, with all our care of the soil, minuteness in following directions as to setting out and tr.i.m.m.i.n.g, etc., there are other difficulties still to overcome.
Many kinds of insects may infest the trunks and larger branches of the trees. Among them are the apple-tree louse, round- and flathead borers, San Jose scale, canker-worm, tent-caterpillar, etc. I would name the borers and San Jose scale [None yet found in the state.--Sec.] as being the worst of the pests with which to contend. The borers attack the trunks and larger limbs of the trees; they seek the sunny side of the tree, not being found where the sap is abundant or where there is a continual shade. Under the first they drown, and under the last they weaken and die. This is a strong argument in favor of low heading and shady growth of the trees. The parent of the borer, a long, green or pale brown beetle, may be caught and destroyed, but it is not to be presumed that all the beetles can be caught; it becomes necessary to examine the trees quite often, in order to destroy the worms hatched from the eggs of the uncaptured beetles. To detect the spots which indicate the whereabouts of these worms is, to the inexperienced, quite a difficult undertaking; for during the spring, and until quite late in the summer, there are no external marks save a small speck, or perhaps a dark blue line so fine that it will not attract the attention of those not understanding the cause. When they are first detected a sharp knife may be used to remove them, but if they have entered the wood, about the only way of removing them is by means of a probe made of common broom wire, with which to thrust them through or drag them out of their holes.
The San Jose scale, a native of Australia, was first found on the American continent in California in 1873. It has not troubled Kansas yet, but it is quite prevalent in the Western States, and, as it spreads rapidly, it is much feared. Its detection is almost the work of a specialist, yet there are a few general characteristics which may be detected by the naked eye; for instance, the bark of the tree loses its vigorous, healthy appearance, and takes on a rough, gray, scurfy deposit. As yet I have heard of no permanent cure. Spraying has a great deal to do with keeping off the insects--of which the canker-worm is getting to be one of the worst--from the upper branches of the trees. It is a mistake to think that a tree should not be sprayed because it has not been infested by any insect or fungous growth. The attacks of both are often unnoticed at first, and the man who is not prepared for them often neglects spraying until it is too late to save the crop of that year.
My experience in regard to the varieties of apples grown has been quite varied. My first orchard, in 1871, did well; I took great pains in setting it out, and for five years there were none of the injurious insects which make us so much trouble. In my second orchard, ten years later, I made great mistakes in the varieties I chose, some of them not being adapted to either soil or climate. By the time I set my third orchard, six years from then, my experience had taught me that the varieties which were best for home and commercial purposes, and which were best adapted to both the soil and climate, were the Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, and Mother, and in these varieties I planted most of my orchard. The habits of the Ben Davis and Missouri Pippin are too well known to need further description. In my orchard I found them both short-lived. My Ben Davis began to die out at twenty years, and a very few reached the age of twenty-six. The Mother is an apple not so well known. It originated at Bolton, Ma.s.s. Tree is moderately vigorous, upright, and productive; one of the best apples on the list there, and I consider it equally so here. Thomas, the American fruit culturist, in his description of the apple, says it is rather large, oblong, ovate, approaching conical; slightly and obtusely ribbed; color a light, warm, rich red, on a yellow ground; moderately juicy, rich, very mild subacid, with a mixture of sweet. Growth slow; late autumnal and early winter.
However, it ripens earlier in this climate; follows the Maiden"s Blush.
Downing says no orchard is complete without it.
While the Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin and Mother are my favorites for productiveness, we have other varieties that are quite productive and long-lived trees, such as the Early Margaret or Striped June, that is an annual and profuse bearer and one of our earliest. d.u.c.h.ess of Oldenburg has never failed with me. Maiden"s Blush has given good success. We have the Romanite, Rawle"s Janet and Limber Twig that are good keepers, but owing to size are not desirable for home use or market. I find more complaint of the Ben Davis than any other apple, though its beauty invariably causes it to sell. My greatest mistake in planting was in selecting Rhode Island Greening and Nonsuch, which have proven almost non-bearers. The trees are healthy and grow almost like an elm or oak. A number of varieties, such as the Mammoth Black Twig, Arkansas Black, Muklen, Rome Beauty, I have not fruited, and cannot tell as to their qualities in this locality. In all my experience in the apple line I find that no orchard will grow and bear without attention, and constant attention at that. The apple tree requires as much interest from its owner as cattle do from the stock-raiser. From a tiny seed, it is subject to disease and pests which, if not destroyed, will destroy it. I would say in conclusion that success in apple raising comes only through eternal vigilance.
ORCHARD CULTURE.
By JAMES McNICOL, Lost Springs, Marion county, Kansas.
Orchard culture being my subject, of course the varieties of trees are supposed to be carefully selected and planted; but the distance apart is important. If too close, no matter how thorough the cultivation, they will suffer for moisture; and if too wide apart the winds will play havoc with the trees and fruit. What is best for this locality, to break the prevailing south winds and yet have plenty of s.p.a.ce for the roots to find moisture? Is it better to plant closely north and south or east and west? I would prefer close rows running east and west, as each row would help break the wind when the trees in the row reached each other--then how close in the row and how far apart the rows? I would plant the trees twenty feet apart in the rows and the rows thirty feet apart. I would like to recommend planting a row of cherry, dwarf pear, plum or peach between each apple row, provided they are cut out when they rob each other of moisture.
Eternal vigilance is the price of fruit, but, in central Kansas, to eternal vigilance you must add thorough cultivation. For a few years cultivated crops may be grown, leaving a good s.p.a.ce next to the trees to be cultivated--not to grow up in weeds. Do not, like one of my neighbors, cultivate the corn row, that cost only about five cents a row for seed, four times, and leave the tree row, which cost two dollars per row, uncultivated. Do not use a stirring plow; it will hill up earth around the trees too much. With a lister you can list in your corn or furrow out potato rows, running east and west one year, and north and south the next. Growing crops for five or six years is long enough; then cultivation should be done with a disc, an Acme or a common harrow; I prefer a reversible disc. Acme is all right if you do not let the weeds get the start of you (which you should never do, but you will sometimes); then the disc is the implement.
Whatever tool you use keep it a going, east, west, and diagonal, and when blessed with a good rain through the summer don"t wait till the weeds get started, but cultivate as soon as dry enough to form a dust mulch. Few seem to know the value of a dust mulch. A high state of cultivation can be kept up in the orchard with what implements the farmer has. Use the one-horse, five-tooth cultivator close to the trees, and the two-horse cultivator for the middle, going both ways; then pulverize with the harrow; use the harrow often. Six days" work at the proper time will keep a five-acre orchard in good shape the whole season. "But," says some one, "it doesn"t pay; this is not a fruit country." No, it is no fruit country, and never will be, to the one who has no time to cultivate; but to the one that will there is a big reward, for the very reason that it is not a fruit country.