COST OF PRODUCIISrG APPLES IN HOOD RIVER VALLEY. 



19 



propping, thinning, spraying, picking, hauling, sorting, packing, and 

 all incidental labor in any way connected witli growing or handling 

 the crop. 



MAINTENANCE LABOR. 



MANURING. 



The practice of applying manure is not general. Of the or- 

 chardists interviewed, 65 per cent apply manure to a greater or less 

 extent, but the average amount of stock kept is small and as there 

 are few dairy herds in the neighborhood, the amount of manure 

 available for the orchard is very limited. A few orchardists haul 

 manure from town, but on account of the long haul this is not gen- 

 erally done. The average grower will have about 15 to 20 tons of 

 manure for his entire farm. He does not apply this evenly over his 

 orchard, but puts it where it is most needed. It may all go on one or 

 two acres, but the parts heavily manured probably will not receive 

 another coat for several years. The manure is hauled out usually 

 by one man and a team, using a sled or wagon, during the fall or 

 early spring, or as the manure accumulates. It may be put in piles 

 to be spread later, or spread as hauled out. It is usually worked 

 or harrowed into the soil in the spring ; if applied on a mulch crop, 

 it is left until the latter is plowed under. In a few cases commer- 

 cial fertilizers have been applied, but this is not common, and the 

 growers usually do not believe it pays. 



The orchardists using mulch crops do not manure to such an ex- 

 tent as those practicing the clean-culture system. Only 58 per cent 

 O'f the former apply manure, as compared with 70 per cent of the 

 latter, but those mulch-crop men who do apply manure put on more 

 per acre. The quantity applied per acre averages for all records 

 about 1^ tons, at a cost of $1.34 for labor, or a total cost of $3.56 per 

 acre for labor and material. 



PRUNING. 



Winter pruning is the general practice in Hood River Valley, al- 

 though considerable summer pruning is practiced on Esopus trees. 

 Growers try to prune every year, although a great many prune only 

 every other year. In some cases an orchard is pruned only once in 

 three or four years. A few men were found who believed in very 

 little pruning. The orchards during the greater part of their life 

 have been without irrigation, and the 'trees have not made as rapid 

 growth as those in many irrigated sections. 



No particular method of pruning is practiced. It might be said 

 that the open-head system is approached, as contrasted with the 

 center-leader type of pruning. The trees are generally headed low 

 and the branches hang low ; thus in many orchards the trees have a 



