374 



The Commercial Apple Industry 



season. General farming permits the employment of 

 month labor at a lower wage than must be paid for day 

 labor. On the other hand, labor in general farming com- 

 munities is not likely to be as skilled as where apple-grow- 

 ing is the most important industry. The efficiency of 

 labor is an important factor in the cost of production. 



ORCHARD MAINTENANCE 



Labor is the most important item in orchard mainte- 

 nance, which involves such operations as pruning, culti- 

 vating, thinning and spraying. It will be seen from the 

 following table that maintenance labor costs vary widely 

 in different regions according to the intensity of the cul- 

 tural practices. 



TABLE XX 

 MAINTENANCE LABOR COST IN SEVEN IMPORTANT APPLE REGIONS 



i Man labor rates in these regions varied from 40 to 50 cents an 

 hour while horse labor was figured at about 30 cents an hour. 



The above table is a summary of the maintenance labor 

 costs on approximately 700 commercial apple orchards in 

 various parts of the United States. Detailed orchard 



