COST OF PRODUCING APPLES IN HOOD RIVER VALLEY. 



31 



of 30 inches apart. The bottoms of these rillers are rounded off so 

 as to make smooth creases. The drags are usually drawn by two 

 horses. 



Mulch crops are often irrigated by flooding. The water is con- 

 ducted from the main ditch through the orchards either in wooden 

 flumes or in open ditches. In a few cases piping has been installed. 

 The main laterals through the orchard are run along the higher 

 ridges or along the more elevated side of the orchard tract. If 

 flumes are used, the water is let out through holes placed at inter- 

 vals in the side of the flume ; if in open laterals, at the same interv^als 

 by means of openings made with a hoe. The water then seeks its 

 own course over a strip usually only a few tree rows wide, following 

 more or less the rills made at the time the mulch crop was sown. 

 This practice keeps water on some part of the orchard for the greater 

 part of the summer months. In many cases the grower finishes 

 each irrigation of his orchard tract just about in time to begin irri- 

 gating again. (See fig. 12.) 



Table X. — Time and cost of irrigation of farms studied (Hood River Valley). 



Type of orchard. 



Per cent 

 of or- 

 chards 



irri- 

 gated. 



Average 

 number 

 of irri- 

 gations. 



Man-hours per 

 acre. 



Cost pro rata.i 





Number. 



Cost. 



Labor. 



Water. 



Total. 



Clean cultivated 



26.67 

 100.00 

 59.26 



2.38 

 3.38 

 3.13 



11.86 

 29.60 

 25.16 



$2.67 

 6.66 

 5.66 



10.71 

 6.66 

 3.35 



80.71 

 2.62 

 1.56 



$1.42 





9.28 





4.91 







1 Cost pro-rated over irrigated and nonirrigated orchards. 



The yield per acre of the 8 clean-culture orchards under irrigation 

 is 257 packed boxes, as compared with 203 packed boxes for the 22 

 orchards not irrigated, with a total cost per box of $0.98 for the 

 former and $1,045 for the latter. However, the orchards which were 

 irrigated average about 4 acres less in area, which partly accounts 

 for the greater yield. 



Orchards set fruit well and grow well under natural conditions, 

 but the fruit does not often attain its best size without irrigation. 



The labor cost of irrigating is $2.67 per acre for those orchards in 

 clean cultivation which practice it and $6.66 for those in mulch crop. 

 Considering the 54 records, there is an average annual acre charge 

 for labor in irrigation of $3.35, or $0.0151 per box. 



THINNING. 



Thinning is practiced by all growers in the valley. Some thinning 

 is usually done each year and is practiced for several reasons, but 

 chiefly to improve the size and quality of the fruit remaining on the 



