COST OP PRODUCING APPLES IN YAKIMA VALLEY. 



21 



Regardless of the orchard management, a crew of one man and two 

 horses will cover 1.10 acres in 10 hours, applying 6.12 tons per acre 

 at a cost of $14.19 for labor and material. 



Considering all records, regardless of method of applying or crew 

 used, there is a charge of 7.40 man-hours and 13.00 horse-hours per 

 acre or a labor cost of $3.80 and material cost for 4.67 tons of $7.01, 

 making a total manure cost of $10.81 per acre. 



PRUNING. 



Pruning is an annual practice of all orchardists throughout the 

 valley. It is usually done during the winter and early spring, when 

 the trees are still dormant. The ranchers, members of their f amilies, 

 or the regular hired help do most of the pruning, but a few have this 

 work done by contract labor. 



The majority of growers prune heavily every year. Some do the 

 heavy pruning in the years when a big crop is expected, lessening to 

 a great extent the amount of labor and cost necessary for thinning 

 and propping. However, the practice of heavy pruning preceding a 

 large crop does not hold true in all instances. Pruning is really 

 another method of thinning, although even with careful pruning it is 

 usually necessary to do a certain amount of thinning. The amount of 

 pruning also has a bearing on the health and vigor of the individual 

 tree. Very few orchardists make a practice of summer pruning. 



Taele XIV. — Cost of pruning in orchards in Yakima Valley. 





Num- 

 ber of 



records. 



Aver- 

 age 

 num- 

 ber of 

 acres 

 in or- 

 chard. 



Trees 

 per 

 acre. 



Average 

 age. 



Trees 



pruned 



in 10 



hours. 



Man- 

 hours 

 per 

 acre. 



Cost. 



District. 



Per 

 acre. 



Per 

 tree. 



Per 

 box. 



Under clean-cultural man- 

 agement: 



43 

 32 



75 



21 

 24 



45 



64 



56 



120 



5.49 

 7.70 



6.44 



4.52 

 7.85 



6.30 



5.18 



7.77 



6.39 



79.21 

 69.07 



74.88 



76.26 

 67.03 



71.33 



78.24 

 68.19 



73. 55 



12.58 

 12.94 



12.73 



12. 21 

 12.00 



12.37 



12.66 

 12.54 



12.60 



14.10 

 13.72 



13.95 



14.03 

 14.14 



14.08 



' 14. 10 

 13.50 



14.00 



56.16 

 50.36 



53.69 



54.38 

 47.39 



60.65 



55.58 

 49.08 



52.55 



$14. 04 

 12.59 



13.42 



13.60 

 11.85 



12.66 



13.90 

 12.27 



13.14 



SO. 177 

 .182 



.179 



.178 

 .177 



.178 



.179 



.179 



.179 



SO. 0296 



Zillah 



.0299 



North Yakima and Zil- 

 lah 



.0297 



Under mulch-crop manage- 

 ment: 



.0313 



Zillah. : 



.0323 



North Yakima and Zil- 

 lah 



.0318 



All orchards: 



North Yakima 



.0301 



Zillah 



.0308 



North Yakima and Zil- 

 lah 



.0304 







On account of the closeness of setting and the rapid growth of the 

 trees, it is necessary that this operation be done every year in order 

 to keep the trees within reasonable control. There appears to have 

 been no definite plan of shaping the trees which were planted earlier 

 in the valley, but in the younger orchards the style of pruning is 



