24 



N. H. Agricultural Experiment Station [Bulletin 257 



the available time ; actually three men have pruned during part of the 

 available period. 



Orchard 1, with 1.191 trees in 1927 equivalent to 550 mature trees, 

 used 2651/^. 1531/2 ai^d 498 hours respectively in the three years. The 

 average of approximately 306 hours per season could be done by one 

 man. Actually the operator has done most of the pruning alone. 



As shown above, the weighted average time on pruning was 567 

 hours per 1.000 mature trees. If the time available per season were 

 roughly 450 hours, one skilled man could expect to prune approxi- 

 mately 800 mature trees per season by working at all available times. 

 It is possible to use some unskilled help in pruning if the .skilled worker 

 will designate the larger branches to be removed and supervise the 



670 



626.5 



5 6 7 



r^RM Number 



Fig. 7. Total man hours per season reqidred on each farm to spray 1,000 



mature trees. 



The number of applications and degree of thoroughness varied from farm to 

 farm. Spraying requires a considerable degree of skill, and the work must 

 be done at very definite periods. Competent men cannot be secured on 

 short notice, and consequently the whole farm organization usually centers 

 about the spraying operation. Either the operator must diversify to pro- 

 vide productive employment for the spraying crew in slack orchard periods, 

 or he must contrive, as by the use of dusting, to get the work done within 

 the necessary time limits without keeping a large crew. In view of these 

 facts, improvements in the efficiency of spraying as by the adoption of nozzles 

 of large capacity, or improvement in the facilities for mixing materials and 

 refilling the tank constitute a very great economy in the whole orchard 



program. 



work of the unskilled men in addition to his own pruning. In this 

 way, with some unskilled help, a skilled fruit man could tprune 1,000 

 mature trees per season. 



SPRAYING 



Spraying represents the most diflficult and intricate problem in or- 

 chard management. It is the one operation that probably is most im- 

 poi-tant in determining the best unit or size for any individual farm. 

 The spray prol)lem has been tlie chief factor- in the decline of the small 

 farm orcliard and seems to be the limiting operation in the commercial 

 orchard. One could almost generalize and state that if the orchard 

 operator can get his trees sprayed thoroughly and efficiently at the 



