The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-06-19

ducer of Apple Seedlings
interest in apple growing in Kansas.
the scientific methods advocated by
the State Agricultural college having
reyolutionized the industry and gwen
it n new lease of life.
AS an indirect result of the war in
| Europe, half of the approximately
1000 bushels of seed procured from
France this season has been of infer
ior quality. Much of the seed came
from a house in Paris which handles
an immense quantity of seed.
Seed From France.
The seed is from small apples used
in the production of champagne. The
seed is procured at mills where the
champagne is made, and if 1T is not
extracted from the waste material
soon after the juice is pressed out of
the apples, the vitality of the seeds
will be impaired. Because of a short
age of men, due to the war, it is
thought by local dealers that the seed
did not have proper attention this sea-
son. The large Paris firm in ques-
ton usually employs 700 persons. Four
hundred of these have within the last
year been called to the front.
The seed is packed in charcoal in
wine barrels for shipment to this coun-
try. The charcoal prevents heating.
Upon arrival here the charcoal is
blown out by tanning mills and the
seed is placed in sacks and soaked
from three to five days Approx
mately a bushel and a peck of seed is
planted to an acre.
E. r. Taylor states that he has ap-
proXimately IS acres in apple seed
1ings this year. j. H. Skinner. has
nearly as great an acreage. F. w.
Watson has approximately one hun
dred acres in seedlings.
The humuS exhaustion caused by
intense cultivation and the fear of
Il GO ms IxaS fnr he
serymen to plant in new land every
other year. They pay the high rental
price of ten dollars an acre.
There are nurseries near Wamego,
st. Marys, Silver Lake, Rossville, Will
Jamestown, Perry, Granville, Law
renee and other towns aside from To-
peka, the center of the industry.
Employ Many Persons.
The apple Seeding industry gives
employment to a small army of sew
era1 hundred men in Topeka and the
Kaw Valley. The growers are busy
all the year around, but the rush sea-
son is from the middle of October
to the middle of January. Shipments
are made throughout the winter. The
crop receives almost continuous Gull
tivation during the growing season,
the one-horse walking cultiva tor, with
small shovels, being used exclusively
During the latter part of October or
early November the seedlings are
Many of the seedlings are used for
grating purposes by nurserymen;
others are budded. After grating, the
plants are stored until carly spring
in cellars constructed for the purpose,
when they are set out in rows from
four to five feet apart, with about
one foot between the trees. AS during
the first season, they receive almost
continuous cultivation with a one
horse cultivator.
Article by Watson.
Mr.. Watson, the Topeka apple
Seeding. king" in an article which
appeared recently in The National
Nurseryman, and which was previous
ly read before the members of the
Western Association of Nurserymen,
discusses the subject, American VS..
Foreign Grown Apple Seedlings for
Budding and Grating Purposes"
I'VE believe that the American
grown No. straight root apple seed
lings are better in every way for
grating than the foreign grown seed
lings. The American stocks have the
proper shape-1ong, even roots graded
to a specific standard. Not the short
and long uneven grade that the for
eigner sends US.
I'VE believe that all American
stocks, properly grown and handled,
are superior to foreign stocks
Editors Note-This is the seven.
teenth of a series, of articles by F. L.
r,nh1iShod in he Stofo