4 UNIV. OF N. H. AGR. EXPERIMENT STATION [Bulletin 232 



HOW MUCH LABOR DOES AN ORCHARD REQUIRE? 



Comparison between labor requirements of different orchards is very 

 difficult, since differences in age, varieties and conditions of the trees 

 influence labor requirements in pruning, spraying, picking, etc. 



However, it is believed that over a period of years certain character- 

 istics for the different operations and their seasonal distribution may be 

 obtained. With this in view a detailed study of the cost of the pro- 

 duction of apples was started in the spring of 1926 in co-operation with 

 the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture. The study is conducted on a route of ten farms in south- 

 ern New Hampshire by H. C. Woodworth, G. F. Potter and H. A. Rolhns. 

 Of the ten farms four are highly specialized fruit farms, selling practically 

 nothing but apples. One has poultry and fruit, and five have more or 

 less diversification. One produces apples, potatoes and beans for sale; 

 another, apples, sweet corn, snap beans, peaches, peas, strawberries 

 and milk; a third, apples and strawberries; the fourth, apples, asparagus, 

 strawberries and broilers; and the fifth, apples, strawberries, beans, 

 potatoes and hay. 



The orchards vary in size from 565 to 3,100 bearing trees, with a 

 total of about 13,650 bearing and 2,600 non-bearing trees on the ten 

 farms. Approximately 36,000 boxes were harvested in 1926, an average 

 of 3,600 per farm, with a labor requirement of 24,415i>^ hours, not in- 

 cluding grading and packing. 



The operators vary in personnel from older men of 65, who are seeking 

 to make a living from apple production without too strenuous a physical 

 life, to vigorous young men who are under the necessity of meeting cur- 

 rent expenses and paying for the farm. 



The group is believed typical of the bulk of the trees in New Hampshire 

 commercial orchards, which, planted largely between 1910 and 1925, 

 have been built up around a block of much older trees. Most of the 

 trees are young and by no means yet in full bearing. This will explain 

 the fact that although a fair crop was harvested, it amounted on the 

 average to only three packed boxes per tree. 



The ten farms do not follow uniform methods of disposing of apples. 

 Two operators put all but a few early apples through the co-operative 

 packing plants, hiring trucks to take the fruit from the farm as picked. 

 Three others sold most of the apples practically tree-run at the farm. 

 Five graded and packed their own crop. 



The total time requirement for the year 1926 was approximately 107 

 minutes per tree, or 40 minutes per box. Prior to harvest the total labor 

 requirements were 10,140 hours, or 44.6 minutes per tree, and 18 minutes 

 per packed box. The harvesting of apples required 60 minutes per 

 tree and 22.9 minutes per box. In addition, there was a miscellaneous 

 labor expense of 5713^ hours, or 2.5 minutes per tree. Some of the 

 orchards had above normal yields and some below, but the figure of 

 107 minutes per bearing tree and 42 minutes per box is thought to rep- 

 resent a cross section of conditions among the commercial growers in 

 1926. This time includes the labor on 2,600 non-bearing trees, which 

 range from one to eight years of age, and, being grown by the sod mulch 



