COST OP PRODUCTION OF APPLES, PAYETTE VALLEY, IDAHO. 19 

 Table VII. — Cultivation practices on the 38 farms studied in Payette Valley, Idaho. 



Implement. 



Plow 



Disk 



Spring-tooth harrow 



Spike-tooth harrow 



Crease shovel plow 



Crease (6-foot cultivator). 



Float 



Weeder 



Cultivator 



Corrugator 



Alfalfa ditcher 



Mormon ditcher 



31.58 

 57.89 

 15.79 

 39.47 

 36.84 

 10.52 

 10. £2 

 5.26 

 5.26 

 5.26 

 2.63 

 2.63 

 Killer I 21.05 



Per 

 cent of 

 number 

 using. 



Num- 

 ber 

 clean. 



Num- 

 ber 

 mulch 

 crop. 



7 



7 



3 



1 



4 





1 



1 



2 







2 





1 





1 



4 



4 



Man- 

 hours. 



7.23 

 •1.77 

 1.81 



.96 

 1.64 



.92 

 1.24 



.96 

 1.00 

 1.50 

 1.88 

 2.00 

 1.01 



Horse- 

 hours. 



14.46 

 3. £4 

 3.C2 

 1.92 

 3.28 

 1. 84 

 2.48 

 1.92 

 2.00 

 3.00 

 3.76 

 4.00 

 2.02 



Acres 

 per 

 day. 



1.38 

 5.65 

 5.52 



10.42 

 6.10 



10. 87 

 8.06 



10.42 



10.00 

 6.67 

 5.32 

 5.00 

 9.90 



Cost 

 per 

 acre. 



Width 



of 

 imple- 

 ment. 



Feet. 



8 by 14 



It can not be said that the average grower practices intensive 

 cultivation as it is practiced in some commercial districts. The 

 water supply has been adequate to supplement the normal rainfall, 

 so that there has been no pressing need of conserving moisture. 

 Some growers cultivate their orchards between irrigations, particu- 

 larly after the first. Most orchardists, however, do not cultivate 

 the land after the first irrigation rills have been laid out. For all 

 orchards under all systems of management the average total annual 

 cost for cultivation, including plowing, is $5.52 per acre, or $0.0164 

 per box. (See Table VIII.) 



Table VIII. — Total of all cultivation costs per acre and per box on farms studied in 



Payette Valley, Idaho. 





. Clean cultural. 



Mulch crop. 



All orchards. 





Cost per 

 acre. 



Cost per 

 box. 



Cost per 

 acre. 



Cost per 

 box. 



Cost per 

 acre. 



Cost per 

 box. 





SI. 44 

 7.93 

 9.37 



SO. 0043 

 .C236 

 .0279 



$0.42 

 2.30 

 2.72 



SO. 0013 

 .0068 

 .0081 



SO. 85 

 4.67 

 5.52 



$0. 0025 





.0139 





.0164 







MULCH CROPS. 



The use of mulch crops has become general within the last few 

 years. Only a few orchardists take off more than one crop of hay, 

 and many use the crop entirely for pasture or leave it on the ground, 

 although many others make three cuttings, which may be taken off 

 or left on the ground as a mulch. The most common method of hand- 

 ling mulch crops in this region, however, is to allow hogs to pasture 

 off the crop. In this way the soil is enriched and at the same time 

 the wormy and inferior fruit on the ground is utilized for feed. 



Where mulch crops are grown, it is the practice to go on the land 

 with a. disk in the latter part of March or the first of April, The 



