-^ " 



fSmam HOURS, as .ffiLL AS TREES 



According to an outstanding northeastern fruit grov/er - a good economist as 

 vrell, one-half of the labor expended on an apple crop up to harvest time is for pruii- 

 and bush removal. Therefore shifting to the use of a pruning platform can mean real 

 economies. Farmers are constantly looking for ways to increase efficiency, reduce 

 costs, and increase incomes of their farm businesses. Interest is intensified pi'-es- 

 ently by the economic situation. Many desirable adjustments require large capital 

 expenditure, but a pruning platform need not be expensive. Let's figTire out how much 

 miglt be saved by the use of a pruning platform in an orchard, 



A case farm has I83O trees, 20 to 30 years of age, on h^ acres. They have 

 been adequately pruned each year to 20 feet or less. The operator has constructed a 

 platform 9 feet high of vrelded pipe and planks. The platform is 8 x 12 feet, but the 

 ovmer now thinks a length of lU to 16 feetwoiiW be better, T^to catwalks, each made 

 of lli-foot planks, 2 planks wide, are manually moved outvrard from the platform. This 

 pruning platform vras constructed very economically by -tiie ovmer, I'lany growers already 

 own trailers which would hold removable platforms. Platforms made v/ith hydraulic 

 lifts, or hydraulically operated catwalks would be much more expensive. 



Pruning on this farm is a two-man operation. Power prune rs are used which op- 

 erate from a power take-off pump. One man prunes from the platform, and the second 

 man prunes from the ground and drives the tractor. Previous to using the platform 

 about three-fourths of a man-hour per tree pruned, v^as required. Using the platform 

 requires about one-half of a man-hour per tree. This is a saving of one-third of the 

 time originally used. 



Trees i'Iin»/tree Total Hours 

 Before using platform IH30" 5^ 1372.5 

 After using platform 1830 30 91^. 



Hours saved U^7»^ 



On this farm the hired man is employed the year around. Here the saving of 

 labor is not a saving in cash expense. Still it can be put to other productive use 

 on the farm. On other farms v/here additional labor is hired for pruning, a reduction 

 in labor required vfould be a cash saving. The use of a pruning platform may also 

 have the advantage of leading to improved pruning, since the man is on the outside of 

 the tree where he can see better, and can more easily thin out the outside of the tree, 



Ronald 0, Aines 



ii- •}(• -;;- -k '.i- -;;- * -Ji- % -;i- -;*■ -s;- -.^ 

 mSSAGHUSETTS ORCHARDS NEED LII'iE 



In conjunction i/Tith the leaf analysis survey conducted jji 30 Massachusetts 

 orchards last year, soil samples were taken to determine the lime requirement of each 

 orchard. The requirements ranged from 2000 to lUOOO pounds of lime per acre. Over 

 three-fourths of the orchards needed 2 tons or more of lime per acre. 



The leaf analyses showed that about half of the trees in the survey were low 

 in magnesium, which indicated a further need for high magnesium lime to prevent the 

 occurrence of magnesiuia deficiency. 



It is quite apparent that Massachusetts fruit grovrers have not been applying 

 high magnesium lime in sufficient amounts and frequently enough to meet the lime re- 

 quireiiients of their orchard soils, 



—'./,D, Weeks 



