100 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



middle of Otoe county. It consists of about 1,000 trees, planted on twenty- 

 three acres. The trees are eighteen years old, and, owing to the excep- 

 tionally good care they received while young, there are probably not more 

 than a dozen trees missing in the entire orchard. The land slopes gently 

 to the west with still lower land beyond. The soil is not very rich and 

 parts of it has sand stone coming very near the surface. It is planted 

 to the following varieties with the rows running east and west; 300 Ben 

 Davis, 300 Missouri Pippin, 100 Jonathan, andd 300 Winesap. The trees 

 were given systematic cultivation until they were ten years old and it 

 has been in grass and clover since that time until last spring. 



COST OF PRUNING. 



The trees had not been wholly neglected prior to this time with re- 

 spect to being pruned, but they were in needi of a moderate thinning out. 

 In order to get them in a condition so the sun could penetrate the most 

 inner parts of the top, and in order that a good job of spraying be made 

 possible, it was necessary to remove probably a dozen branches the size 

 of one's arm and smaller, besides the water sprouts from each tree. • 



The cost of giving these trees such a pruning was 15.8 cents per 

 tree. This included hauling the brush from the orchard. Hand labor 

 was $1.50 per day, andd $3 per day for hand labor plus a team. 



COST OF SPRAYING. 



The first spraying was given with commercial lime-sulphur alone just 

 before the flowers opened. It was applied with a power outfit with three 

 leads of hose. The second application was made at the usual time for 

 the second spraying with lime sulphur plus lead arsenate. The third ap- 

 plication was made about three weeks later with lime-sulphur plus lead 

 arsenate on the Missouri Pippins and Jonathans and lead arsenate alone 

 on the Winesaps and Ben Davis. The July spraying was omitted owing to 

 the drouth that threatened the crop at that time, but the cost is figured on 

 the basis of a fourth application of lead arsenate alone, the cost of the 

 third spraying being as a basis for this estimate. The water had to be 

 pumped by hand and hauled about a quarter of a mile. 



The cost of materials, including gasoline for making these four spray- 

 ings was 12 cents per tree, and the cost of labor amounted to 14.2 cents 

 per tree, making a total cost of 26.2 cents per tree for the four applica- 

 tions. 



COST OF CULTIVATIONS. 



It was necessary to plow about one-third of the orchard where the 

 sod was thickest. The remainder we were able to work up with a disk 

 without plowing. The ground was disked six times during the summer 

 and harrowed three times at a cost of 5.2 cents per tree. 



