Feljniar}'', 1029] agricultural experiments 1928 29 



orchards the aiiKnitit and (Hstribution of labor on pruning and spraying 

 should receive special attention. In the case of pruning there is much lee- 

 way as to time, since December, January, February, ^larch and April may 

 be used for this purpose. The amount of skilled labor needed in pruning 

 can be spread over this period of five months. 



If we assume that on the average the weather conditions are such that 

 about 80 hours are available for pruning in each of the months of Decem- 

 ber, January, and February and that in March and April approximately 

 120 hours are available per month, we then have a situation where each man 

 can put in 480 hours per year in pruning trees advantageou.sly. 



On the basis of 10 farms with 13,500 trees in 1026, 2,500 hours were 

 used in pruning. This is about 11 minutes spent in pruning per tree, 

 and if this were a fair basis one man in 480 hours could prune 

 orchard, and if this were a fair basis one man in 480 hours could prune 

 2,000 trees. Since, however, some orchards were not primed very much, 

 it may be more correct to take data from the two large orchards where 

 pruning is done yearly in an effort to keep up each season. In one of these, 

 with about 3,000 trees of all ages, 1,203 hours were used in pruning in 

 1927 and 849 hours in 1926. In the other, with about 3,000 trees of vary- 

 ing ages, 964 hours were used in pruning in 1927 and 2595< in 1926. 



It is therefore believed that two skilled men could prune an orchard of 

 3,000 trees, especially if one unskilled man were available to do tasks laid 

 out by the trained men. The actual cost of the work can be made less if 

 some productive work can be done when weather is not favorable for 

 priming. 



Spraying, of course, is more or less definite as to time and probably is 

 the peak in skilled labor requirement. On the average there is approxi- 

 mately the following time period for the various sprays : dormant spray, 

 10 days ; prepink, 5 days ; pink, 5 days ; calyx, 5 days ; 1st cover, 12 days. 



Since, however, there will be windy or rainy weather, it is thought that 

 the large orchardist should be equipped with machinery and personnel to 

 cover the orchard in 40 hours. In some years this may necessitate con- 

 siderable night work. 



The spray program seems to vary greatly. Yet even though only one 

 spray is applied, the necessity of putting this on within the limited time is 

 obvious. In 1926 in one large orchard the calyx spray was applied to over 

 3,000 trees in 31 machine hours. In another it required 63 machine hours 

 or 189 man hours. In the case of both these orchards at this rate of spray- 

 ing, one machine and one crew could hardly complete the spray on time in 

 many years. One orchard had two machines and two crews and put most 

 of the spray on in 3 days. In the other over 5 days were required to put 

 the spray on. 



The former orchard normally has 6 to 7 men on account of other crops 

 so that the crew is available at any time ; but in the latter only apples are 

 produced, and if two crews were used in spraying there would be nothing 

 for these men to do at other times, so that by spreading the work over 

 a longer time one crew can do the work. In this case, however, a dusting 

 machine was held in reserve. This dusting machine was used in later 

 sprays and the orchard covered in 13 to 18 machine hours. (Purnell 

 Fund.) 



