The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-04-28
THE GARDEN SPOT
Kansas Is Shown to Be a Great
Fruit State.
More Than 2 100000 Bearing
Apple Trees
WITHIN ITS BORDERS.
One Man Alone Owns Over 1OO,-
900 of T. Them.
Mr.. Curtis Continues His In
teresting Letters.


Kansas continue interesting. The last
with a Chanute date line treats large
ly of orchards and is as follows:
Chanute, Kan, April 23.-The largest
orchard in the world is in Kansas and
belongs to Fred Welhouse, who came
from Indianapolis and was once editor
of the Indiana Farmer. He was the
first man who had the courage to en-
gage in Embarrassing to any extent, and
has been well rewarded for his faith
and enterprise. He is the apple king
of the world, has made a handsome for
tune, has retired from active business,
leaving his orchard in charge of his
sons, and lives in a handsome residence
at Topeka.
Mr. Wellhouse devotes his energies
and abilities these days to the encour-
agement of fruit culture as president
of the state horticultural society. He
planted his first orchard in 1876 and
now has 1854 acres in apples alone. His
largest single orchard consists OF So0
acres at Wakarusa, Usage county, and
his smallest is a patch of III acres at
the village of Glenwood, near Leaven-
worth. He has apple farms in four
other counties, including altogether
about 100000 trees.
Mr.. Wellhouse considers the Ben
Davis apple the best staple, and has
$40 acres, or more than one-third of his
orchards, planted to that variety. Four
hundred and nine acres is planted to
the Missouri pippin, 100 acres to the
Jonathan, $50 acres to the GanO, $50
to the York imperial and IA acres to
the winesap. He treats his appls as if
they We're jewels. His trees are tended
with the greatest care. He employs
experienced and careful men. His fruit
is picked by hand as fast as it ripens.
The perfect apples are wrapped in
tissue paper and packed in boxes which
are sent to cold Storehouses and kept
in an even temperature of about 40 de-
grees until the market is favorable.
Then they are shipped to Chicago, New
York, St. Louis, Denver, San Fran
cisco and the City of Mexico, and
considerable quantity goes to European
markets: Queen Victoria and Emperor
William eat apples from the Wellhouse
orchards. There is always a demand
for them both at home and abroad, and
some years the crop has brought as
much as $4,000, more than half Of
which was profit.
Mr. Wellhouse is by no means the
only apple man n Kansas. He has only
100 900 trees, while in the entire state
there are 7,533, 1858 apple trees in bearing;
4,05S76 peach trees, 1,212, 584 cherry
trees and 628, 283 plum trees. In addi-
ton to these there are 1854, 1856 apple
trees too young to bear fruit, and near
ly 1000, 900 peach trees. The number is
increasing al the rate of about 500 900
a year. There are altogether not fewer
than 10000, 900 fruit trees in Kansas, or
about fifteen trees per capita of the
population.
The exports Of apples from the United
States during the winter just closed
will reach about 1000. 900 barrels, worth
from 81 to So each in the Liverpool mar
ket. The freight from Kansas City to
Liverpool will average $1.40 a barrel.
For the foreign market apples are
wrapped in paper and placed in boxes,
four layers deep, ninety-six to the box,
all selected fruit, with the best on top,
of course. The covers are put on with
a machine that presses on the ends of
the boards and springs both the bottom
A
four and one-half boxes, and 1 900 boxes
make carload, weighing about 10000
pounds.
The poorer grades of apples are other
wise disposed of. The seconds are
sold in the local market in barrels or
shipped to the neighbOring cities, but
they have to be perfectly sound and of
good appearance. The imperfect ones
go to the cider mill or the evaporating
houses In a well-ordered orchard the
product of the evaporation, which takes
the place of the old-fashioned dried
apple, ought to pay the expense of
maintenance; the cider ought to pay
the grocer bill and leave the proceeds
of the barreled fruit clean pro6it. There
is no better fruit country in the world
than eastern Kansas and Oklahoma.
There is tramp aristocracy in Kan
saS-a nomadic population who live in
wagons and go from place to place as it
pleaSeS them and the season changes.
l do not mean the Coming back to
times and returned with better days.
that people have been singing about
since the era of prosperity sot in:
They're a-comin' back to Kansas;
They're crossin' on the bridge;
You can see the mover wagons
On the top of every ridge.
On the highways and the turnpkes
You can hear their wagons hum,
For they're comm back to Kansas, and
They're comm on the run"
AT nearly all the Kansas towns,
camped in the suburbs in Gypsy fash
ion, you can find families with a lot of
half-grown, tow-headed children and
hungry dogs, who wander like the Arabs
over the plains, from the mountains of
Wyoming to the coast of Texas. as the
weather grows cold or warm. Near lola
we found a father and mother who had
lived in the same wagon for twelve
years, and seven children. They had
spent brief periods at nearly all the
towns in eastern Kansas and Texas.
The seven children had all been born in
that wagon and the whole outfit had
slept either in or under it every night.
The two hungry-loOking horses were
fed from a trough attached to the hind
board. while the food of the family
was cooked on a little oil stove that was
slowed away under the front seat when
the caravan was in motion. The scanty
kitchen utensils were suspended from
the hoops that held up the canvas
cover; family wardrobe was packed
away III : dh4Ay DdSS, anu the IOOO SUPP
ply, which was neither abundant nor
attractive. was kept in boxes and bags
slung underneath the wagon box. They
had a rocking chair and a, camp chest
with a revolving lid that served as a
table and a china closet at the same
time.
The man said he didn't like that way
of living, but his wife was fond of
change, SO they kept wandering year
after year, working at odd jobs as he
happened to find them, and cultivating
the acquaintance of the world.
AS a prosperity straw the -manag-J'