May, 1931] Studies in Economics of Apple Orcharding 59 



and 500 man hours ; Farms 5, 6 and 7 between 200 and 400 hours ; and 

 Farms 8, 10 and 11 less than 200 man hours per 1,000 boxes. 



When computed on the basis of the actual yields, the average man 

 labor requirement was 336 man hours per 1,000 boxes. Farms 3 and 

 12 used over 500 hours per 1,000 boxes; Farms 1, 4 and 6 between 400 

 and 500 hours; Farms 2, 5, 1, 9, 10 and 11 between 200 and 400 hours; 

 and Farm 8 under 100 hours. Farm 8 did little work per mature tree, 

 and on account of very high yield in 1927 had a very low average man 

 labor requirement per box of apples. 



Horse Hours 



For all farms, an average of 817 horse hours, 9.37 truck hours and 

 11.43 tractor hours per 1,000 mature trees equivalent was required 

 prior to harvest. 



Farms 1, 2 and 4 had over 1,000 horse hours per 1,000 mature trees. 

 Farm 3 would be in this group if it had not substituted tractor power 

 for horses in cultivation. Farms 5, 8 and 12 used between 500 and 

 1,000 horse hours per 1,000 mature trees. Farms 6, 7, 9, 10 and 11 

 used less than 400 horse hours per mature tree. 



Tractor power to the extent of 119.4 hours per 1,000 mature trees 

 was used on Farm 3. Seven farms used the truck for incidental jobs. 



In general, the farms that put on several sprays and did some tillage 

 had high horse cost per 1,000 trees. 



When computed on basis of expected normal yields, an average of 

 137 horse hours per 1,000 boxes was required. Farms 2, 4 and 9 used 

 over 200 hours ; Farms 1, 3, 8 and 12 between 100 and 200 hours ; and 

 Farms 5, 7, 10 and 11 less than 100 horse hours per 1,000 bushels. 

 An average of 1.6 tractor hours and 1.9 truck hours was used in addi- 

 tion to horse labor. 



When computed on basis of actual yields an average of 123.4 horse 

 hours was required per ],000 boxes. In this case, only Farm 4 had 

 over 200 hours per 1,000 boxes. Farms 1, 2, 3, 11 and 12 used be- 

 tween 100 and 200 horse hours, and Farms 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 used 

 less than 100 horse hours per 1,000 boxes. The peak of horse labor 

 requirements is the short but' difficult spray periods. The number of 

 horses needed on a fruit farm under sod mulch is largely determined 

 by the spray program. 



Money Costs 



The only way to sum up the different quantity costs of growing 

 fruit seems to be in terms of money. It is well, however, to realize 

 that, in reducing to a money cost, the results are artificial and should 

 be used simply as a criterion to study the differences between orchards. 

 In the first place, the rate of pay of the operator and the hired men 

 must be assumed. The owner-operator does not work for wages; and 

 while the hired man does, the time is somewhat diffused by slack 

 periods and by unfavorable weather. On some of the farms, other 

 productive labor can be found for the regular men when orchard work 

 is slack ; on other farms, orcharding is the only enterprise. 



Notwithstanding this, we have assumed for purposes of compari- 

 son the same rates per man hour for all orchard work. This, of course, 



