The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-12-28

herd of cattle. Then began a three-cor-
nered fight. The jack rabbits, cattle
getting away from the herders, and the
SOpherS were in 1t. The rabbits and the
cattle got the tops, and the gOphers got
the roots. I have two of those trees left
alive which are bearing. They are valu-
able.
THE next lots proved not so costly. I
had paid for my experience in digging
holes and setting out trees that way. I
now use a pillow, for a big dead furrow
beats all holes to set trees in. From the
year 1885 to 1890 I had set out % acres
of apples, with a loss of less than 5 per
cent. The rabbits have girdled and de-
strOyed a great many, even when from
6 to inches in diameter during the late
SHOWS in the spring, even when painted
or dOped with axle grease, which kept
them off all winter. I now use strych-
nine put in apples, and start early in
the fall.
There was a flood on June "a, 1885,
which was all over my orchard, and the
water was from 1 to 3 feet deep for
nearly ten days. We could go all over
the orchard and pick apples in a boat
The deposit of mud left by the overflow
was from 2 to 6 inches deep. and under
the trees the mud did not dry out. but
remained soft and sticky till it frOze.
The trees were full of apples and all
that fell off dropped in the mud and
were spoiled. I got only a few bushels
OF good apples. The flood killed a great
many trees, and many that are left are
tipping over, as the top roots are rot
ting off, and it makes bad looking or
chard.
"The past year about 500 trees bore
apples, perhaps six bushels to the tree.
Only those where lime had been used
bore fruit. Some s year old trees had
two barrels to the tree at the time of
picking.
MY soil is sandy river bottom land,
with sand knobs from 4 to feet high.
The stratum of water called sub-irriga-
ton is from to u feet below the trees.
10 h1x he IA Mt oI1l
tiVatiOn. Sweet corn, tomatoes, pOta-
toes and garden truck have been raised
between the rows Large trees past
three years have been pIOWed and har
rOWed, but no corn raised. On my andy
soil l have found manure to be a great
factor in wood growth. In fact think
that the twig blight is caused by eX-
cessive sap that cannot be utilized as
plant food, or in other words, the action
of the sun on the sap turns it to acid,
leaving the twig gummy and sticky
with a pungent acid smell.
I'm June 1896, I used coal oil on some
blighted twigs about four inches 1ong
starting out from a limb of over two
inches in diameter. The bark of an oval
strip six inches above and below the
twig was dead, and for nearly One-third
of the way around the limb. In the past
two years have used a great deal of
coal oil and also crude oil. and find the
best of effects by so doing on blight and
scale of all kinds.
I'm the summer of 1896, following the
flood, my orchard was literally alive
with little white millerS or moths. lust
at twilight. The result was that the
apples were all more or less wormy. We
started in too late with the spraying to
do the crop of fruit any good. We
picked up the dropped apples and fed
them to the hogs to get rid of the
worms. In 1897 we began to spray as
the buds opened with London purple,
and again ten days later with Bordeau
mixture and purple. The rain and hard
winds shut off any further spraying for
about three weeks, except two days.
One-half of the apples were wormy
Z have kept all small or wormy ap-
pies picked up, as I am trying to get rid
of the worms. The apples are now free
from specks, scab, or any of the skin
diseases. 7 saw the apples on exhibition
at the Omaha exposition
''Our high and dry climate gives the
apples little tougher skin, which helps
them to be better keepers. As to kinds.
I had As varieties bearing this year, and
"a varieties set out. Time only will tell
whether the choice varieties of the east
will do well here. This year Greening,