PROFITS IN FARMING GIST IRRIGATED AREAS IN UTAH. 17 



an acre. The soil on which these orchards are located apparently is 

 well adapted to this fruit. The location is also good, being well 

 protected from frost. 



Since these orchards have been set out there has been no year in 

 which the peach business has been a success financially, owing mainly 

 to the low prices received. Many of these growers are discouraged, 

 and some of them are pulling out first-class 5-year-old peach trees to 

 make the land available for growing sugar beets and other general 

 farm crops. Figure 6 is from a photograph of hogs in a peach orchard. 

 On this particular place the owner had a big crop in 1912. He 

 incurred heavy expenses in picking, packing, and shipping, only to 

 have the returns amount to practically nothing. In 1913 he also had 



Fig. 6. — Hogs turned into a peach, orchard to harvest the crop. 



a good crop, but was not willing to take the chances of picking, 

 packing, and hauling the fruit, so a large number of hogs were pur- 

 chased in the early summer and the entire crop was fed to them. 



It is estimated by several growers in the vicinity that the value of 

 orchard land has depreciated about 40 per cent in the last four years. 

 The estimated cost of producing a crate of peaches is 30 to 34 cents. 

 This estimate was obtained from a number of reliable peach growers. 

 It includes the cost of caring for the orchard, picking, packing, and 

 hauling to the station. No charge for interest on land is included in 

 this figure. Many years the price of peaches has fallen far below 30 

 cents a crate (22 pounds). The cost of growing the orchard is high 

 and crops are occasionally poor. These are some of the factors that 

 have made the peach industry a losing one. 



