36 



BULLETIN 518, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Tablk XIlL—VontiJitrative efficiency of hired and of owned spray rigs on farms 



studied. 





1 

 o 



a 



'A 



1 



03"-. 



i 



o 

 o 



1 

 o 



o 



Eh 



u 

 o 



o 



.9 



i 



<1 



o 



tn O 



rv 03 



1° 



„ t^ 03 

 03 ^ o 

 o c« w 



Jo 



r-H <0 03 



if"- ft 



Cost per acre. 





Ownership of 

 rig. 



o 



"3 



1 



3 

 o 



H 



o 



ft 

 +3 • 



o 

 O 



Own 



43 

 11 



64 



5.7 

 5.1 

 5.6 



26.39 

 23.00 

 25.70 



20.99 

 17.59 

 20.30 



5.38 

 5.91 



5.47 



1,172.14 

 1,395.11 

 1,205.42 



1,241.81 

 1,203.89 

 1,234.09 



17.31 

 16.81 

 17.21 



9.09 



7.81 

 8.83 



8.71 

 8.69 



8.71 



17.80 

 16.50 

 17.54 



0. 0789 



Hire 



.0791 



Own and hire... 



.0790 



The comparative efficiency of the owned and hired rigs is shown 

 in Table XIII. The average number of sprays is 5.Y for the owned 

 and 5.1 for the hired rigs. As would be expected, there are fewer 

 man and horse hours per acre in the latter case. It is seen that 

 those who own rigs spray an average of 5.38 acres in 10 hours, 

 applying 1,172 gallons of material, while hired rigs spray 5.91 

 acres, applying 1,895 gallons in 10 hours. Thus, although the labor 

 cost per acre is less in the case of the hired rigs, the total material 

 cost is nearly the same. The cost of labor and material for the 

 owned rigs is $17.80 per acre, while for the hired it is $16.50 per 

 acre. It would seem therefore that so far as the actual labor and 

 material cost of spraying is concerned, it makes little difference 

 whether the rig is owned or hired. 



Because of the effect of climatic conditions upon spraying, no 

 well-defined spraying schedule is followed in the valley. Most 

 growers have their own ideas about spraying. Some troubles, par- 

 ticularly apple scab, are very hard to control, and spraying is as yet 

 in somewhat of an experimental stage here. 



This region differs from most others in that a great many differ- 

 ent kinds of sprays are made of varying strength. The first spray 

 applied in the spring is usually a lime-sulphur dormant spray, 

 which is applied ordinarily in March. This, often called the " clean 

 up " spray, is made primarily to control the San Jose scale. The 

 strength of this spray is usually 1-10, that is, 1 gallon of commercial 

 lime-sulphur to 10 gallons of solution. Usually a single nozzle and 

 a coarse spray are used, with a pressure of about 175 pounds. Prac- 

 tically 90 per cent of the growers make a practice of using this 

 .spray, and make but one application of it during a season.. Man- 

 hours per acre for this spray average 4.74 and the horse-hours 3.72. 

 The average acreage for all crews is 5.38 acres per day. The labor 

 cost per acre is $1.62, material cost $2.45, making a total of $4.07 

 per acre. If this spraying cost is distributed over all the orchards 



( 



