COST OF PRODUCTION" OP APPLES, PAYETTE VALLEY, IDAHO. 7 



nearer large cities may be obtained from the fact that Payette is 462 

 miles from Salt Lake City, Utah, and 460 miles from Spokane, Wash. 

 In early years much of the fruit was disposed of in the local markets, 

 especially in the mining towns and the small cities of Idaho. How- 

 ever, with the increased production in other parts of the State it was 

 necessary to find an outlet into the large trade channels of the 

 country. 



SOIL.i 



The soils in the parts of Payette Valley where fruit is grown are of 

 various types. The prevailing type is a sandy loam varying greatly 

 in texture and depth in different parts of the valley. Most of the 

 soil along the Payette River is of an alluvial nature. The river bank 

 is comparatively low, but the lands are not generally subject to over- 

 flow. The sandy-loam type of soil, found on the bench and higher 

 cultivated lands on which much of the best fruit is located, varies 

 from 2 to 4 feet in depth, and the subsoil is permeable to water. 

 Crops of all kinds apparently do well on this type of soil. There are 

 some types found in which the surface soil is the sandy loam, a few 

 inches in depth, shading into the clay loam at a depth of about 2 feet. 

 Much of this loam area is underlain with hardpan. 



The sandy-loam type of soil found about Fruitland seems especially 

 adapted to fruit culture. Much of this region is believed to have 

 been formerly a large fresh-water lake, the soil being composed in 

 many places of very thick sedimentary deposits. This region also is 

 formed largely of volcanic material. Much of the soil contains a 

 considerable percentage of soluble salts, and alkali often appears on the 

 surface after irrigation. 



CLIMATE. 



The climate of the Payette and Snake River Valleys is arid tosemiarid. 

 It is characterized by little precipitation, a relatively low humidity, 

 moderate temperature, abundance of sunshine, clear air, and slow wind 

 movement. The annual precipitation is much greater in the moun- 

 tains than upon the lower lands. This region is dependent upon the 

 mountain snows formed during the winter for its supply of water for 

 irrigation during the summer. Low water or a lack of water for suf- 

 ficient irrigation is due to a relatively light snowfall the preceding 

 winter. The mean annual temperature for Payette is about 50° F. 

 The maximum temperature during the past 15 years was 111° F. on 

 July 23, 1905, and the minimum for the same period was —26° F. on 

 January 26, 1910. Table I shows these temperatures, together with 

 the dates of the last killing frost in the spring and the first in the 

 autumn. Late frosts are not uncommon throughout this region, and 

 they often cause considerable damage and render the fruit crop un- 

 certain. Hailstorms also sometimes occur. However, the damage 

 from hail is usually much less than in fruit regions at higher altitudes. 



1 Soil survey of the Boise area, Idaho (Field Operations, Bureau of Soils, 1901). 



