COST OF PRODUCING APPLES IN YAKIMA VALLEY. 



9 



convenience. Some keep but one horse, with which most of the 

 light work may be done. For heavy work arrangements sometimes 

 are made for the use of a neighbor's horse for short periods. The 

 rancher usually keeps a cow, a few pigs, and a small flock of poultry. 

 Where the orchards are under mulch-crop management there is a 

 tendency to keep a somewhat greater number of such animals. 

 Ranches in the Zillah district are comparatively large and more of 

 an attempt is made at diversification than in the upper valley, where 

 the orchards occupy a larger percentage of the farm acreage. Even 

 so the type of farming remains highly specialized and fruit is the 

 principal crop. Here is found a greater acreage of pears, cherries, 

 and other fruits, and until recent years peaches were grown to a con- 

 siderable extent. The Zillah ranches have a larger acreage in young 

 fruit than those in the North Yakima district and more land is 

 devoted to the growing of other crops, particularly alfalfa. The 

 typical ranch is of such size that the operator devotes most of his 

 time to the work on his own place. In this region there is a growing 

 tendency to raise alfalfa in the orchards to be used for hog pasture. 



SIZE OF RANCH. 



The ranches of the North Yakima district are usually small. Of 

 the 64 considered in this investigation, extreme acreages are 2 and 40. 

 Most of the ranches range between 2 and 20 acres in size. The average 

 ranch contains 10.79 acres, with 5.18 acres of apples in bearing. 

 Nearly every ranch has a few pear, cherry, and plum trees and a small 

 acreage of young apple trees. Nonbearing apples average 3.34 acres 

 per ranch. On the average less than one-half acre is devoted to the 

 growing of other crops. (See Table III.) 



The apple orchard is usually of such size that one man can com- 

 fortably do all pruning and look after the necessary operations with 

 but little extra help except during the thinning, spraying, and har- 

 vesting periods. 



Table III. 



-Average size of ranch and of areas in crops for 64 ranches in the North Yakima 

 district. 



Method of culture 



Item. 



Average acres in ranch 



Average tillable acres in ranch 



Average acreage in bearing apple orchard 



Average acreage in young apples and other fruit 



Average acreage in other crops 



Tillable acres per horse 



8.40 

 8.28 

 4.52 

 3.46 

 .30 

 4.81 



The 56 ranches in the Zillah district considered in this investigation 

 are somewhat larger than those in North Yakima, ranging from 8 to 

 60 acres. The average size is 21.57 acres, with 7.77 acres in bearing 



