54 



BULLETIN 614, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ORCHARD HAULING. 



In the larger orchards one man is employed exclusively in orchard 

 hauling. In the smaller orchards it is not necessary for one man to 

 be constantly employed in hauling to and from the orchard. As a 

 rule, the owner does the orchard hauling and either superintends the 

 pickers or assists in the packing house when not employed in hauling. 

 In general the orchardists here consider the hauling to and from the 

 orchard as separate operations, and they have so been considered in 

 this study. The majority of orchardists use a low truck wagon with 

 one man and a team for hauling. (See fig. 10.) A few in the smaller 

 orchards use a sled with either one man and two horses or one man 

 and one horse. (See fig. 11.) Practically the same methods are 

 practiced in both districts. 



On the farms studied in the North Yakima district 33 orchardists 

 used a wagon for orchard hauling, 22 had a crew of one man and two 

 horses, and 11 had one man and one horse. Thirteen used a sled, 6 

 with a crew of one man and two horses and 7 with one man and one 

 horse. There were 18 orchardists whose time of hauling to and from 

 the orchard was lumped as one item. 



On the farms studied in the Zillah district 36 orchardists used a 

 wagon for hauling, with a crew of one man and two horses ; 9 used 

 a sled, 8 with a crew of one man and two horses and one with one man 

 and one horse ; and 4 used a wagon with two men and two horses. 

 There were 7 whose time of hauling to and from the orchard was 

 lumped as one item. 



Table XXXIX. — Comparative cost of hauling boxes to and from the orchard on a wagon 

 or a sled when both operations are done with a crew of one man and tivo horses {62 farms, 

 Yakima Valley). 





Rec- 

 ords. 



Empty boxes to orchard. 



Full boxes from orchard. 



Total 

 cost 

 per 

 loose 

 box. 



Total 



Vehicle. 



Boxes 

 per 

 load. 



Cost per 

 loose 

 box. 



Cost per 



packed 



box. 



Boxes 

 per 

 load. 



Cost per 

 loose 

 box. 



Cost per 



packed 



box. 



cost 



per 



packed 



box. 



Wagon 



Sled 



50 

 12 



91 

 60 



■SO. 0040 

 .0056 



SO. 0061 

 .0084 



40 

 20 



SO. 0093 

 .0119 



SO. 0139 

 .0179 



SO. 0133 

 .0175 



SO. 0200 

 .0263 







Table XXXIX gives the average number of boxes, empty and 

 full, hauled on a wagon or sled by a crew of one man and two horses. 

 The total cost of hauling is somewhat larger where a sled is used. 

 The actual average cost of 95 orchardists for hauling to the orchard 

 regardless of crew or method employed, was $0.0045 per empty box, 

 or $0.0068 per packed box. Twelve of this number hauled their 

 apples directly to a central packing house, while the average actual 

 cost for the remaining 83 for hauling loose boxes to the packing shed 

 on the ranch, regardless of crew or method employed, was $0.0045 

 per loose box or $0.0068 per packed box. 



