62 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
man. He fills his sack as full as it can be conveniently 
carried, and empties into boxes on a wagon which is kept 
conveniently near. As soon as a wagon is loaded it is 
driven to the packing-house and another takes its place. 
Two or three wagons are required to haul away the fruit 
gathered by each gang of men ; thirty to forty bushels 
per day is about the average made by the pickers. Fully 
five-sixths of the apples are within easy reach of the 
ground. 
The foreman’s duty is to see that the wagons keep pace 
with the pickers, so that there is no unnecessary carrying ; 
to see that the men do not become too widely scattered, 
nor yet too much “ huddled ” to work to advantage ; to 
see that the apples are picked “ clean ” and handled with¬ 
out bruising, and to keep the time of the men. 
As soon as the apples are taken to the packing-houses, 
of which there is one for each block of trees, thev are 
sorted into three, and sometimes four grades. Those of 
the first grade, or “ shippers,” as they are called, are placed 
directly into barrels and packed in the usual way, by 
“ facing” the bottom, filling and forcing the head in with 
a screw press. The division between first and second- 
grade apples is made only in size, both grades including 
only sound fruit. The third-grade apples are small ones 
and those which, while not sound, are still usable. The 
fourth-grade apples are left in the field or fed to hogs. It 
takes almost as many men to sort and pack the fruit as it 
does to pick it. 
SPRAYING. 
One of the most potent factors in making the Well- 
house orchards profitable is the scientific and carefully 
conducted system of spraying for insects and fungous 
pests. By the proper use of London purple, at an aggre¬ 
gate cost for the season of less than 25 cents per acre, the 
ravages of the codling moth worm, the leaf-roller and the 
tent caterpillar are reduced to an almost inappreciable 
minimum, and the canker worm is made practically harm¬ 
less. Apple scab is also controlled, to some extent, by 
the use of a solution of copper carbonate before the 
blossoms open in spring. The trees in these orchards are 
sprayed three times: Once before the blossoms open, 
with a solution of six or eight ounces of copper carbonate 
to 150 gallons of water ; once as soon as the blossom leaves 
fall, with a similar solution, to which has been added a 
pound of London purple ; and a third time, ten days later, 
with a solution of a pound of London purple to 150 gal¬ 
lons of water. 
To apply the spray, Mr. Wellhouse employes a machine 
of his own invention. It consists of a tank, mounted on 
wheels, and equipped with a pump. The pump is driven 
with a sprocket wheel, which gets its motion from the 
movement of the bearing wheels. A nozzle at one side 
of the machine directs a volume of finely divided spray 
onto a row of trees as the machine is drawn along. As 
there is no means of stopping the spray while passing the 
intervals between the trees, of course there is some waste, 
but the cost of the spraying solution is so trifling that 
this is scarcely worth considering. Almost any of the 
smaller spraying machines does as satisfactory work, but 
where there is so vast a number of trees to be treated, 
such a machine as is in use in the Wellhouse orchards is 
indispensable. 
The nineteen years’ experience that Mr. Wellhouse has 
had in commercial orcharding in Kansas has served to 
confirm him in the opinion that Kansas can grow apples 
as certainly, as easily and as profitably as they can be 
grown in any state. He has often asserted, and.repeated 
to the writer within two da}'s, that “ when we learn what 
varieties are best adapted to our soil and climate, and 
learn how to take care of our trees, Kansas will be the 
apple orchard of this country. We shall grow more apples 
than any other state in the Union.” 
When he set his first plantation, and during the first 
years of his experience, it was much of a question in his 
mind whether the land would stand heavy cropping of 
apples without a manifest deterioration in the size and 
quality of the yield. The past few years have set his 
mind entirely at rest in regard to that point. He says 
that the crops borne by the trees set in 1876, nineteen 
years ago, are as large and of as fine a quality of fruit as 
when they first began to bear. The finest Ben Davis 
apples he ever raised were borne this year on trees that 
had already yielded twelve crops since 1880. Neither do 
the trees show any signs of decrepitude or decay, and 
there is nothing as yet to indicate that they may not go 
on bearing profitable crops indefinitely. 
FROST IN MICHIGAN. 
Monroe, Mich., May 21.—There does not seem to be 
any damage by the frost to nursery stock, which circum¬ 
stance is attributable to the fact that the nurseries here 
are near the lake. The grape crop is entirely ruined, and 
currant plantations, where not protected, are 25 per cent, 
black. Farmers coming in from sections away from the 
lake report that hickory and catalpa leaves are a little 
singed. In this immediate vicinity bearing plantations of 
strawberries, gooseberries, peaches, plums, pears and 
apples are unharmed. C- V. Heikes, Troy, Ohio, reports 
the peach blocks there entirely killed. August Rhotert, 
of New York, passed'through Monroe after visiting Paines- 
ville, and he reports that very little damage was done at 
that point. ArZena. 
CHAUTAUQUA GRAPE CROP. 
Portland, N. Y., May 28.—Regarding the outlook for 
the grape crop, the damage will be very much less than was 
indicated by first reports sent out. Careful estimates now 
indicate that we will have in this belt nearly 50 per cent, 
of a crop and possibly more. The town of Portland seems 
to have suffered less than towns on either side of us. The 
loss is very unevenly distributed, some vineyards being 
completely wiped out, while others escaped with very little 
injury. 
