COST OP PRODUCTION" OP APPLES, PAYETTE VALLEY, IDAHO. 11 



Table II. — Size of farms and of investments for farms studied in the Payette region, 



Idaho. 



Item. 



Number of records 



Average si;e farm (acres) 



Investment per farm: 



Total 



In land and improvements : 



In equipment 



Average size orchard (acres) 



Per cent of farm in orchard 



Investment per acre of orchard: 



Total 



In equipment 



Per cent of total farm investnent apple orchard represents 



Per cent of land and improvement investment apple orchard 



represents 



Number of horses per farm 



Investment in other stock per farm 



Sj-stem of orchard man- 

 agement on farm. 



Clean- 

 cultural. 



16 

 60.05 



$22,324.28 



$20, 697. 66 



$531.25 



13. 56 



33.65 



$581.25 

 $16.94 

 38.27 



41.59 



4.19 



$496. 00 



Mulch- 

 crop. 



22 



48.55 



$19, 500. 77 



$17, 818. IS 



$550.91 



9.70 



37.88 



$636.36 

 $23.09 

 36.34 



39.80 

 3.50 



$666.41 



All records. 



38 

 53.39 



3,689.62 



3, 030. 59 



$542. 63 



11.33 



36.10 



$613.16 

 $20. 50 

 37.16 



40.55 



3. 79 



$594^66 



The investment in farm land on the farms studied in the Payette 

 region determines to a great degree the success of the farmer. In the 

 earlier years settlers bought or homesteaded land and developed it 

 gradually, thus acquiring the land at a much lower price than did the 

 later settlers, who usually bought from real estate companies and 

 paid much of their capital down on the land. For this reason 

 many of these men who came from other parts and paid $300 to 

 $500 and often more per acre for some of this land found them- 

 selves unable to compete with those who had acquired land at a much 

 lower figure. Thus, in years of bad fruit prices and general poor crops 

 men with little means of marketing their produce without an actual 

 loss have not been able to succeed. Others- are having trouble in 

 meeting the interest payments on the heavy mortgages which they 



carry. 



ORCHARDS. 



SIZE AND TYPE. 



The apple orchards in the valley differ greatly in size, but those 

 studied average 11.33 acres. The 16 clean-cultural orchards average 

 13.56 acres, and the 22 mulch crop, 9.70 acres. These orchards vary 

 in their general condition and in the number of trees per acre. Many 

 of them are more or less neglected, and some are on soil not well 

 adapted to fruit culture. Others are located in regions liable to 

 frost. 



The poorest orchards are those in alfalfa and bluegrass which have 

 been down for a number of years and have been cut off or pastured 

 annually by stock and never returned to the land. There is a ten- 

 dency to neglect the older orchards ; especially as regards soil 

 management. 



