228 PEAR GROWING IN CALIFORNIA. 



"The land when purchased was rough land. Nearly the entire 

 work was done by hired men and teams, day work, often not imme- 

 diately superintended. The wages were usually $2 for nine hours' 

 labor, and $4 for man and team. Not much personal time was 

 given to the work, so no account was kept of it. However, it would 

 be fair to add 10 per cent to the cost for personal labor. (If any 

 one should use these figures as a basis for his own operation, if he 

 intends to do his own work, he should deduct 10 per cent because 

 . an owner usually works more intelligently and harder than an 

 employee. ) 



' { The land was covered as follows : Ten acres in native forest of 

 fairly heavy growth oak, pine and manzanita, and ten acres in 

 stumps and logs with a second growth manzanita, which required 

 mattocks to remove. The removal of rocks was not an important 

 item of expense, possibly $50. In the spring of 1913, as many men 

 were employed as possible to clean the land quickly, and especially 

 to cut the marketable wood, with the expectation that the wood 

 would pay in large part for the clearing. This worked out very 

 satisfactorily. 



"By June, 1914, the rough land was sufficiently cleared to permit 

 plowing half of it and the setting of 1,000 trees. The next year, in 

 January, 1915, the remainder of the 20 acres was planted. There 

 are now on the place 850 pear trees, 850 apples and 100 border 

 trees of cherry and walnut. These trees are vigorous and of good 

 size for their age. The items of expense which remain until trees 

 come into bearing consist of cultivation and plowing. For this 

 $200 a year will undoubtedly be sufficient. The actual expendi- 

 tures to date (March 1913-August", 1916), are as follows: 



"COST OF LAND AT $50 PER ACRE $1,000 00 



Blasting powder $49 90 



Tools for clearing 9 60 



Wood cutting and clearing 717 30 



Wood hauling to market 371 90 



Incidentals in clearing 2 60 



1.151 30 



$2,151 30 



PLANTING THE ORCHARD. 



Rabbit-proof fence and construction $121 15 



Orchard tools 15 20 



Cost of trees (best of their kind) 218 35 



Tree planting (entire process) 261 45 



616 15 



CARE OF ORCHARD. 



Plowing and cultivating $211 50 



Lime for whitewash, etc - 3 00 



Pruning (largely done by self) 5 75 



220 25 



Total cost, including land $2,987 70 



Received for wood__ 906 10 



Net expenses, exclusive of personal service $2,081 60' 



10 



