.1 11110. 1921. 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE 



Apples in the Okanagan 



An Investigation Regarctng the Average Yields 

 Of Leading Varieties. 



By W. A. MIDDLETON, 



I'iNlcnsinii Assistant, I)e|)artinent of Jlurl ii-nlnirc!, 

 I iiivcrsitv ol' liritish ('nluiiiliia. 



2^^ 



IXTKODrCTlUX. 



During tiie season of 1920 a stuily was made of tlie 

 different operations enteriiij^' into the cost of produfiug 

 apples in the Okanagan \'ailey for tlie year 1919, and 

 embodied in a report consisting of two parts : Part 1 

 dealing with Costs, and Fart 2 dealing with Yields. 



The investigation was conducted for the purpose of 

 olitaining more definite and accurate knowledge of the 

 cost of jiroducing apples, and the average yields oli- 

 tained from leading varieties. 



This article consists of Part 2 which deals witli the 

 (jiie.stion of varieties and yields. The whole report is in 

 tlie hands of the printer at the present time, and will 

 bf issued shortly in bulletin form. 



The data contained in this report were obtained di- 

 I'ectly from growers who were able to give reliable in- 

 formation. The orchards from which the records were 

 obtained are located in the fruit areas of Vernon, Ke- 

 lowna, Summerland and Pentieton. 



Over eighty growers were interviewed, of which 

 forty-two were able to give reliable figures for part of 

 their cost. Many of the growers interviewed kept no 

 records and hence were not in a position to furnish de- 

 finite data. On the other hand, some who jiad not kejit 

 records were able to give reliable information wliicli 

 they had gained through their broad experience in or- 

 chard work. The data received from such growers 

 tallied closely with those wlio had kept accounts. 



The average size of tlie orchards studied was 1().2 

 acres. The average numlier of trees per acre was 74 

 and tlie average age of the trees 10 years. 



AVERAGE YIELDS AND PRICES FOR LEADING 

 VARIETIES. 



There were in bearing in the Okanagan Valley in 1919 

 aijout 12,000 acres of apples 5 years of age and over. The 

 Hpple crop in the Valley for tlie same year amounted to 

 practieall.v 1,750,000 boxes; giving an average yield per 

 acre of approximately 1-16 boxes. Considering only some 

 of the best commercial varieties grown in the average 

 orchards, the yield in 1919 amounted to practically 280 

 boxes per acre, or an increase of 13-1 boxes per acre over 

 the actual yield. 



Reducing this to a tree basis, at 74 trees to the acre, 

 this would mean an average actual yield of 1.97 boxes 

 per tree for all varieties; 3.78 boxes per tree for the 

 better varieties or an increase of 1.81 boxes per tree. On 

 12,000 acres this would mean an increase of 1.G08.000 

 boxes of fruit. In other wfuxls, if the orchards in the 

 Okanagan contained good commercial varieties the yield 

 in 1919 would have amounted to approximately 3,358,- 

 000 boxes of apples. Figuring the average price paid to 

 the grower in 1919 at .$1.35 per box the extra money 

 tbat would have been received by the Okanagan grow- 

 ers for that year would have amounted to about $2.- 

 '.70,800. 



In securing data on yields only those varieties which 

 had proven suitable for the Valley, and which have gain- 

 t(l commercial importance were considered. Other var- 



ieties have been omitted from this report for various 

 reasons. There are for instance varieties such as the 

 Canada Baldwin, St. Lawrence and Ben Davis that 

 have proved good yielders and suitable for the Okana- 

 gan, but for winch the market is limited .since they are 

 low grade apples and do not bring top prices on the 

 market when competing against such varieties as Mcin- 

 tosh Kome Beauty or Delicious. Other varieties grown 

 Hi the \ alley such as Spitzenberg, Spy and Cox Orange 

 are high grade apples and bring good prices, but are not 

 suitable tor Okanagan conditions and therefore have 

 not to be considered in this report. 



Yields were secured from 42 different orchards l-^ 

 ot which were located in the Vernon district; 9 in' the 

 Kelowna; ,t in Summerland and Iti in the Pentieton 

 district. 



TABLE 1 



Showwy inimhrr of recorch on yields received for the 

 Years 1913 ia 1920. 



Variety 



Mcintosh . . . 

 Rome Beauty 

 Delicious . . 

 Wealth}- . . . 

 Jonathan . . . 

 Yellow Newton 

 Wagner . . . 



S °= 2 



2 H 



1 1 1 



1- 1« 29 2 80 



^ ■'> 7 15 



' 1 3 10 1 16 



- -^ -i 7 7 15 1 41 

 •'7 8 10 14 23 3 73 

 1 - ;^ 4 5 12 2 29 



- - ;^ 5 8 15 1 36 



It will be noted in the above table that the majority of 

 records on yields were received for the year 1919. Since 

 in general a heavy crop was produced in 1919 the total 

 averages on yields may appear a little high. The main 

 object, however, being to determine how the leadiii" com- 

 mercial varieties compare witli each other in viehls, this 

 lieavy 1919 cro]) will not materially affect tlie value of 

 the comparison. 



Table 2 shows the number of trees at different a^es 

 111 which yiehls were received. It will be noted that the 

 number of trees recorded from Rome Beautv and Deli- 

 cious are small compared with the other varieties Re- 

 cords taken from a larger number of trees might have 

 affected the average to some extent. 



A brief study of this table will show that in nearly all 

 cases tlie 5 year old tree gives a higher avera«-e vield 

 than tlie six year old. '^ " 



This is accounted for by the alternate bearing of the 

 irnit trees. To make a fair comparison on yields of 

 different varieties it is obvious that vields from a nnm- 

 ber of years must he taken. 



A brief study of Tables 5 and 6 will .show tihat the 

 .\Ic4nt(Kh is tlie heaviest producing variety, but in 

 lable It will be noted that the Delicious 'has "iven 

 a greater return per tree, even though the viehl is 

 lower, due to th.. extra price this apple brings" on the 

 market. 



