102 THE KANSAS PEACH. 



into peach butter. His best market is his home town of Osage City. He retails, 

 getting from fifty cents to two dollars. Does not believe there would be much 

 pay in growing them largely for market. 



C. D. Martindale, Scranton, Osage county, a resident of the state for four- 

 teen years, has 450 peach trees: 150 of these are seedlings, one-half of which are 

 of choice fruit. His trees are in a black loam, the oldest being ten years planted. 

 He would prefer northeast slope. His varieties are Alexander, Champion, Early 

 Crawford, Elborta, Crosby, Old Mixon Free and Cling, Stump, and Martindale. 

 Has discarded Amsden as "too wormy." For market, would advise Elberta, 

 Early Crawford, and Old Mixon Cling; and for family would advise Martindale, 

 Elberta, Early Crawford, and a yellow peach of his. Plants one-year-old trees, 

 trimmed to a stick four feet high, with damaged roots trimmed, 15x18 feet 

 apart. Says heading in is the proper way to prune bearing trees. Has had 

 Amsden and Alexander ripe by July 4. As for late peaches, he has two varieties 

 that get frozen annually before they are ripe —has lost the names. Some of his 

 peaches "cook" on the tree in the dry season, a yellow seedling and the Crosby 

 being the worst. Curculio troubles his early clings most. Nothing else but 

 bees [?] trouble his fruit. Never had yellows; had some curl-leaf, but did no 

 harm. Peach rot has been bad for past two years. He grows corn among the 

 trees while young, then clover. Never allows live stock near them, but thinks of 

 turning in small pigs and young calves. In picking, he goes over his trees care- 

 fully four or five times, taking only the ripest each time. Markets in third- 

 bushel crates, sorting into three grades, rejecting all ill-shaped and sunburnt 

 specimens. Generally sells at home; can easily sell all the good ones at from 

 fifty cents to two dollars per bushel. Feeds all culls to the hogs. Cold of Feb- 

 ruary, 1899, killed all fruit-buds. Thinks if it ever pays to plant largely it will 

 be after buyers come in to buy the fruit. 



J. L. Steele, Minneapolis, Ottawa county, has lived in Kansas fifteen years; 

 has now 200 budded and 50 seedling peach trees; 10 or 15 of the seedlings are 

 good. His trees are from four to eight years of age, on upland, with clay soil, 

 but does not think it best; would prefer a sandy loam and a north slope. His 

 choice varieties ,are Heath Cling, Crawford's Late, Elberta, Mountain Rose, 

 Early Rivers, Governor Goodland, Yenshi, Crosby, Champion, Sneed, Bokara, 

 and Triumph; the five latter ones not yet in bearing. Says our rainfall is not 

 sufficient to develop any fruits properly for market. He sets out trees one year 

 from bud, twelve to fifteen feet apart, cut back to a cane two feet high, and 

 broken roots trimmed. His earliest varieties are Rivers and Governor Goodland; 

 latest, Crawford. Says trees were all killed by extreme low temperature of last 

 winter. Some of his seedlings " cook " in the sun on the trees. Curculio troubles 

 his early freestones; never tried spraying, but believes it would be beneficial. 

 No other insect troubles his trees or fruit; one row of early trees yielded so little 

 fruit for past two years as to be profitless. He grows potatoes among the trees 

 and bars out all live stock. He irrigates some from a well; it is too deep (90 feet) 

 to make it pay ; says thirty or forty feet is as deep as a well may be to success- 

 fully use the water by windmill pump for irrigating. Says peaches would not 

 pay to grow largely for market in his locality. He says, further, the Yenshi, 

 Champion, Crosby and others were sold him by a nurseryman claiming they 

 were "iron-clad;" that Yenshi had stood a temperature of thirty-two degrees 

 below zero and yielded a crop of peaches, but they were all killed at twenty-nine 

 degrees below zero; so he considers the " iron-clad" claims a fraud. 



