May, 1931] Studies in Economics of Apple Orcharding 45 



the time used had no very profitable competing opportunity ; in other 

 eases, it could have been put to profitable production on other crops. 



The total cost of labor and power for cultural operations for all 

 farms for three years was $4,645, or $5.34 per acre per year, $91 per 

 1,000 trees, or $264 per 1,000 mature tree equivalent. Farm 4 had 

 the highest cost with $12.32 per acre, $294 per 1,000 trees and $633 

 per 1,000 mature trees. Farms 6, 10 and 11 did very little work on 

 moisture control, and the cost per acre and per tree is low. 



Whether or not the greater cost per acre is accompanied by greater 

 average yields is difficult to determine. In general, it is thought that 

 soil management has a very important bearing on yields, and that a 

 reasonable amount of labor on this pays abundantly. Some with very 

 low time requirement could probably put more effort in soil manage- 

 ment, and perhaps a few have pushed the operation beyond the point 

 of profitable returns. 



On the basis of expected normal yield, the average cost was $44 per 

 1,000 boxes, with a range of $7 to $120. On the basis of actual yield, 

 the average cost was $40 per 1,000 boxes, with a range of $14 to $104. 



Cultivation 



Of the twelve farms, four did considerable cultivating, having 

 practically all of the orchard area under cultivation (Table 15). Farm 

 1 cultivated a block of bearing trees on very light land by merely 

 disking. The type of soil tilled easily ; and since the moisture prob- 

 lem was especially serious some years, the operator preferred to do 

 this. Farm 2 tilled three small young non-bearing orchards by inter- 

 cropping and plowed and tilled a mature orchard in 1927. Farm 3 

 tilled a block of non-bearing trees that had previously been in sod. 

 Farm 4 tilled a large portion of orchard each year. The other farms 

 had no large acreage in tillage. 



There is some difference of opinion among fruit growers as to the 

 effectiveness of the different methods, and any comparison between the 

 cost of cultivation as opposed to sod mulch must be made with reserva- 

 tion. Tillage is frequently considered better than sod mulch, and yet 

 on the other hand we have many examples of good tree growth and 

 good yields where trees were grown and maintained from the be- 

 ginning with sod mulch. There is not sufficient data available to de- 

 termine the comparative yield over a period of years. If cultivated 

 orchards yield more, do they yield enough more to pay for the extra 

 cost? 



Table 16 shows that the average quantity cost per acre for tillage 

 was 23.4 man hours, 25.6 horse hours, 1.2 hours of tractor labor. Farm 

 1 with 17.6 hours per acre has light soil and can till its orchard with- 

 out plowing. Farms 2 and 4 do a very careful and thorough job of 

 tillage and intercrop a portion of the area. Farm 3 used a tractor, 

 and did some of the tillage by means of a home-made, heavy oak, spike- 

 tooth harrow. An average for the four farms of 399 hours of man 

 labor, 427 horse hours, and 21 hours tractor labor was used per 1,000 

 actual trees. Farm 3 had a low man labor requirement of 190 hours per 

 acre on account of tractor. Farm 4 had a high man labor requirement on 



