66 The Commercial Apple Industry 



nowhere else in the country have scientific horticultural 

 methods been more assiduously practiced than in the 

 Yakima Valley. 



The productivity of the Yakima orchards is very high. 

 Their annual yields are greater than those in any other 

 region with the exception of the Wenatehee district. 



The average annual rainfall in the Yakima Valley is 

 under twelve inches, and irrigation is necessary. Millions 

 of dollars have been expended in irrigation projects 

 designed to bring water from the mountain streams and 

 fructify the otherwise desert land. A large part of the 

 acreage is watered from canals operated under the United 

 States Reclamation Service, although private projects are 

 also found. Water rights in some instances have cost as 

 high as $175.00 an acre ; the average has been much lower, 

 however. Annual maintenance of the irrigation ditches 

 once installed often represents as much as $4.00 an acre. 

 When to these costs are added the high price for raw land 

 and the expense of bringing an orchard into bearing under 

 the most intensive care, some idea may be obtained of the 

 reason for high valuation of western irrigated orchards. 

 Two thousand dollars an acre has not been an uncommon 

 price for full bearing orchards. In some instances 

 unsuited land was planted and the district suffered from 

 over-development of " boom " projects. 



The Yakima Valley is under a severe handicap by its 

 distance from consuming centers. It must rely on large 

 annual yields of high marketable apples for its survival. 

 Production has been rapidly increasing and reached 11,500 

 cars in 1919. Less than 25 per cent of the acreage was 

 over ten years of age in 1918 and an increased production 

 may be expected from this region in the next few years. 



