COST OF PRODUCING APPLES IN YAKIMA VALLEY. 



37 



a water tax from $0.75 to $6 per acre. The prorata 1 cost in this 

 district for water tax is $3.10 per acre. The maintenance charge 

 or tax per acre in the Zillah district on the Government ditch is,$l. 

 The prorata cost in this district for water tax is $0.86 per acre. 

 The unit of measure for water is an- inch (miner's) per acre. The 

 average prorata maintenance charge per acre for water in the valley 

 (120 records) is $2.06. 



Table XXX. — Time chargeable and the labor cost per acre for irrigation on 120 orchards 

 of different acreages in Yakima Valley. 





North Yakima district. 



Zillah district. 



North Yakima and Zillah 

 districts. 



Acres in orchard. 



Num- 

 ber 

 of 

 rec- 

 ords. 



Num- 

 ber 

 of 

 irriga- 

 tions. 



Man- 

 hours. 



Cost 

 per 

 acre. 



Num- 

 ber 

 of 

 rec- 

 ords. 



Num- 

 ber 

 of 



irriga- 

 tions. 



Man- 

 hours. 



Cost 

 per 

 acre. 



Num- 

 ber 

 of 

 rec- 

 ords. 



Num- 

 ber 

 of 

 irriga- 

 tions. 



Man- 

 hours. 



Cost 

 per 

 acre. 



1-5 



46 

 14 

 4 

 64 



4.62 

 4.43 



3.75 

 4.52 



21.65 

 13. 54 

 14. 92 

 19.45 



$5.41 

 3.39 

 3.73 

 4.86 



20 

 24 

 12 

 56 



3.50 

 4.00 

 3.42 

 3.70 



17.83 

 14.43 

 12.84 

 15.30 



$4.46 

 3.61 

 3.21 

 3.83 



66 

 38 

 16 

 120 



4.28 

 4.16 

 3.50 

 4.14 



20.49 

 14.10 

 13.36 

 17.52 



$5.12 



6-10 



3.53 



11-2C 



3.34 



1-20 



4.38 







The first irrigation on apple orchards in the valley is made usually 

 in the latter part of April or the first part of May, depending to a great 

 extent on the moisture present in the soil. The number of irriga- 

 tions made by the individual ranchers varies considerably throughout 

 the valley. An irrigation is made usually every four to six weeks 

 throughout the season, in both clean and mulch-crop orchards, some 

 men irrigating as late as the 1st of September. Data for the North 

 Yakima district show an average of 4.52 irrigations, and for the Zillah 

 district an average of 3.70 irrigations. 



The water is allowed to run in one place in the orchard from 24 to 

 72 hours, the time varying to a considerable extent with the type of 

 soil. Usually the water is kept running till the widening zones of 

 saturation meet between furrows. The length of time the water is 

 allowed on one place is governed also by the head of water in the 

 ditch. At the time of the first irrigation it often requires a longer 

 period to saturate the soil than later. The length of time for each 

 irrigation is governed also to a considerable extent by the contour 

 of the land, which in turn governs somewhat the length of the fur- 

 rows used for carrying the water. On hilly lands the length of the 

 ditches is reduced to avoid washing of the soil. An orchardist may 

 have to spend all of his time on irrigation the first few days early in 

 the season, but on the average it requires for the season but from 

 one to three hours per day on the average-size apple orchard in the 

 Yakima Valley. Table XXXI gives the labor cost and the pro rata 

 cost for water maintenance. 



i " Prorata" cost is the actual cost distributed over all records. 



