COST OF PRODUCING APPLES IN YAKIMA VALLEY. 



53 



HAULING BOX SHOOKS. 



•All growers considered in this discussion hauled box shooks to 

 their ranches. Short hauls are made possible by spurs or sidings 

 provided by the railways. Usually one man and two horses are used 

 for hauling shooks. Sometimes four horses are used. (See fig. 9.) 

 Ten orchardists, however, used one man and one horse and five used 

 two men and two horses when hauling shooks. In the North Yakima 

 district a crew of one man and two horses hauled an average load of 

 529 box shooks an average of 2.46 miles at a cost of $0.0041 per 

 shook, or $0.0017 per shook per mile; while in the Zillah district a 

 similar crew hauled an average load of 412 shooks an average of 1 .20 



Fig. 11.— Hauling the filled loose boxes from the orchard to packing shed by means of a slip boat. 

 Slip boats or sleds are used on short hauls. 



miles, at a cost of $0.0032 per shook, or $0. 0027 per shook per mile. 

 Considering all records in the valley, whatever the size of crew, the 

 average distance hauled was 1.S1 miles, with an average cost per 

 shook of $0.0038 or $0.0021 per shook per mile. 



MAKING BOXES. 



As in other Northwestern apple-producing areas, most of the boxes 

 are made up on the ranch at odd times before picking time or during 

 the early part of harvesting. Much of this work is done by contract 

 labor at $0.0065 to $0.01 per box. On m ny of the small ranches 

 the boxes are made by the owner or members of his family. A man 

 will make from 200 to 500 boxes per day, depending upon his expert- 

 ness. In this study the charge is $0.0065 for making a box. 



