May, 1931] Studies in Economics of Apple orcharding 23 



other hand, the small farms 8. 9. 10, 11 and 12 did all the pruning in 

 April and May. Probably the larger the orchard the greater will be 

 the necessity for spreading out the time on pruning to take advantage 

 of all available good weather from November to May. 



During the winter months, tlie time which can be devoted to prun- 

 ing is restricted, of course, to short days of good weather. We have 

 no measure of the relative efficiency, but the men claim they are handi- 

 capped in the winter and that they not only accomplish less but that 

 the work is of such a nature that in cold weather the task is very dis- 

 agreeable. Consequently, the orchardist may prefer to work in the 

 woods rather than prune trees in December, January and February 

 and then may put a crew in the orchard to prune in the spring. This 

 is probably a more efficient way of getting the work done providing 

 there are sufficient men trained to prune and providing other profitable 

 work is available in the winter. 



On the smaller farms, the operator does practically all the pruning. 

 In the case of the larger farms the regular help have acquired skill 

 and experience. Fortunately there is much leeway as to time since 

 the work can be done during December, January, February, March 

 and April. Thus, while pruning requires more than ordinary ability 

 and skill, the task can be spread over this long period of five months, 

 making it possible for the operator and one or more trained helpers 

 to care for a large orchard. And while the operation requires a rather 

 large amount of tedious painstaking labor, if the men work consistently 

 during the time available for pruning, demands for this task need not 

 limit the size of an orchard. 



If we assume that, on the average, the weather conditions permit 

 80 hours per month for pruning in December, January and February, 

 and 120 hours in March and April, then a man could put in advanta- 

 geously 480 hours per year in pruning trees. 



Since, however, other orchard operations such as spraying must be 

 done in some of this good weather, it is probable that an individual 

 cannot safely plan on an average of more than 450 hours of pruning 

 per skilled workman. 



Assuming that the average labor of pruning on the individual farms 

 is the essential requirement for that orchard, it is interesting to study 

 the actual method of handling the management problem. 



Orchard 2, with 2,835 trees of all ages in 1927 or the equivalent of 

 991 mature trees, used 849 total hours in 1926, 1,254 hours in 1927, and 

 1.186 in 1928. or an average of 1,111 hours per year. Pruning would 

 probably require on this basis the service of three skilled men in the 

 favorable weather in the five months. However, since there are five 

 or six men on this farm who are skilled in pruning, the operator and 

 the men work in the woods most of the winter, pruning some at odd 

 times or in very favorable weather. Then in the spring the large crew 

 of experienced men prune trees in all available weather. 



Orchard 7, with 4,315 trees in 1927 equivalent to 1,625 mature trees, 

 put only 2591/2 hours on pruning in 1926, 964 in 1927 and 722 in 

 1928. it would appear that two skilled men could do this work in 



