Cost of Heating 59 



necessary to weight the lid down with a clod or stone to 

 keep it from being blown away in a hard wind. 



Cost of Heating 



The expenses of heating an orchard will depend alto- 

 gether on a variety of circumstances that vary with each 

 orchard and each season. But the entire problem is nicely 

 summed up by a practical orchardist .on the western slope 

 of Colorado, who makes this statement in The Fruit- 

 Grower for January, 1911: 



"My calculations of the expenses of heating an orchard, 

 taken from my own experience, are as follows, based on 

 a ten-acre orchard: 



800 heaters at 45c each - $360.00 



?. 1,200 gal. storage tanks at $50 each 1 50.00 



1 wagon tank 35.00 



1 oil pump 17.50 



2 oil pails at 65c each 1.30 



6 torches 40 



100 pounds waste 8.00 



4,000 gallons oil at 5c gallon 200.00 



Total first cost of equipment $762.20 



"Now suppose we go on for ten years, for of course 

 we are going to keep this outfit always in readiness, and 

 we must allow $100 per year to keep our supply of fuel. 

 We then have $1)00 more, making a total expenditure in 

 ten years of $1,662.20, or an average of $166.22 per year 

 for ten* years. This is a cost of $16.62 per acre, making 

 the cost from 15 to 25 cents per tree each year depending 

 on the number of trees per acre. 



"If I had a bearing orchard that I did not think would 

 stand this expense, I would pull it out and grow potatoes, 

 sugar beets or hay." These figures while illustrating very 

 nicely the cost of equipment for heating, will vary in dif- 

 ferent localities according to the cost of the storage tanks, 

 style of heater and the cost of oil, but such figures enable 



