UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



"h BULLETIN No. 614 # 



OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 



Contribution from the Office of Farm Management 



W. J. SPILLMAN", Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



April 20, 1918 



COST OF PRODUCING APPLES IN YAKIMA VALLEY, 



WASHINGTON. 1 



A detailed study of the current cost factors involved in the maintenance of orchards 

 and the handling of the crop on 120 representative bearing orchards. 



By G. H. Mtt.t.ee, Assistant Agriculturist, and S. M. Thomson, Scientific Assistant. 



CONTENTS. 

 Page, i 



Introduction . 1 



Facts brought out 2 



The Yakima district. 2 



History and development of the industry 4 



Method of presentation 8 



Farm organization 8 



Size of ranch 9 



Types of ranchers 10 



Page. 



Investment 11 



Orchards, 14 



Orchard maintenance 19 



Handling the crop 49 



Total labor cost. 61 



Expenses other than labor 65 



Total of all costs 72 



INTRODUCTION. 



This bulletin presents the results of a study of apple orcharding in 

 Yakima Valley (Washington made by the Office of Farm Manage- 

 ment during the summer of 1915. As with previous surveys eon- 

 ducted in the apple-growing districts of the Northwest, the object of 



the study was to determine the eost factors involved in apple produc- 

 tion, and to gather such information as to the different methods of 

 orchard management practiced by the growers of the valley as might 

 have a bearing upon cost of production. 



Data were obtained by the same method used in Wenatchee Valley 

 in 1914. A sufficient number of orchardists were visited to give a 

 reliable average, and complete and detailed information was gathered 

 regarding the usual methods of procedure in orchard management, 



1 This is the fourth of a series of bulletins on the cost o! apple production. Department Bulletin No. 446, 

 "The Cost of Producing Apples in Wenatchee Valley, Washington," Department Bulletin Xo. -500, <! The 

 Cost of Producing Apples in Western Colorado," and Department Bulletin Xo. 518, " The Cost of Producing 

 Apples in Hood River Valley," have already been published. 



Xote.— Acknowledgment is due to the Office of Horticultural and Pomological Investigations of the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry for material assistance in the preparation of this bulletin; also to Mr. J. Clifford 

 Folger, Tvho aided in securing the necessary data, and Mr. F. E. De Sellem, Horticultural Inspector at 

 Large, Xorth Yakima, for helpful suggestions. 

 13116°— 17— BulL 614 1 



