6 



BULLETIN 130, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



In considering the labor requirements in the production of fruit, the 

 following questions present themselves: What operations make the 

 total labor in the production of marketable apples 1 What factors 

 influence the cost of these operations ? What records should be kept 

 by the grower so that he may at any time know the cost of a given 

 operation and at the close of any season know the total cost of any 

 and all operations ? 



In the management of commercial orchards there are operations 

 which must be performed and which are essential for the production 

 of marketable fruit. These operations will be discussed in the order 

 of their occurrence in the western New York apple belt. 



Detailed labor costs for the Wellman farm, taken during 1911 and 

 1912, are given in Table II. 



Table II. — Labor costs on the 14-74-acre Wellman apple orchard, containing 527 trees, 



for 1911 and 1912: 



Operations. 



Total hours. 



Man. 1 Horse. 2 



Labor cost. 



Total. 



Per 



acre. 



Per Per 

 tree. barrel. 



Pruning Mar. 



Removing brash Apr. 



Mixing lime and sulphur . . . 



First spraying i Apr. 



Second spraying [ May 



May 

 June 

 May 

 June 

 June 

 June 

 July 

 July 

 July 

 \ug 



11 to Apr. 17. 

 10 to 26 



Third spraying 



Plowing 



Rolling 



First harrowing 3 

 Second harrowing 

 Third harrowing.. 

 Fourth spraying. . 

 Sowing cover crop 

 Fourth harrowing 



Picking apples 



Picking up apples Sept 



Packing apples Aug. 



Marketing apples 



25 to May 2.. 



12 to 13 



23 to 26 



18 to 27 



29 to June 7 . . 

 7 to 8 



19 to 22 



30 to July 22. 



20 to 21 



22 to 24 



22 to 25 



31 to Oct. 19. 

 21 to Oct. 22. 

 31 to Nov. 3. 



137 

 27* 



8" 

 49J 

 45 

 48* 

 101* 

 10*. 

 30J 

 12J 

 10 

 24 



ioj 



24-J 

 765J 

 100-J 

 418* 

 234* 



38J 

 30 

 48 

 193*. 

 21 

 61 

 24J 

 20 

 24 



355* 



S24.52 



8.90 



1.43 



14.70 



12.65 



16.03 



47. 81 



5.09 



14.79 



5.94 



4.85 



7.97 



1.88 



12.01 



137. 03 



18.04 



74.91 



96.36 



$1. 663 



.604 



.097 



.998 



.859 



1.088 



3. 243 



.344 



1.004 



.403 



.329 



.541 



.128 



.814 



9.297 



1.224 



5.082 



6.536 



SO. 046 

 .017 

 .003 

 .028 

 .024 

 .032 

 .091 

 .010 

 .028 

 .011 

 .009 

 .015 

 .004 

 .023 

 .260 

 .034 

 .140 

 .183 



SO. 026 

 .009 

 .002 

 .016 

 .014 

 .017 

 .051 

 .006 

 .016 

 .006 

 .005 

 .009 

 .002 

 .013 

 .146 

 .019 

 .080 

 .102 



Total for year. 



2,058J 



504. 91 



34. 254 



.958 



.539 



Pruning 



Removing brush 



First spraying 



Second spraying 



Third spraying 



Cutting clover 



Cutting clover (with scythe) 



Fourth spraying 



Thinning apples 



Cutting blight 



Picking apples. . . 

 Contract picking. 



Total picking. 



1912. 



Dec. 21 (1911) to Apr. 26 



Apr. 4 to May 3 



May 3 to 4 



May 13 to 14 



May 31 to June 6 



June 25 to Julv 11 



June 28 to July 11 



Aug. 6 to 13 



Aug. 7 to 13 



Aug. 16 to 29 



Aug. 26 to Oct. 31 . 

 Oct. 9 to 31 



229J 



74J 



55J 



45* 



80 



13 



11 



67| 



34 



22 



60* 



36" 



30 



54 



26 



70 



41.03 



22.55 



15.44 



12.73 



22.58 



6.31 



1.97 



22.84 



6.09 



3.94 



2.784 

 1.530 

 1.048 

 .864 

 1.532 

 .428 

 .133 

 1.550 

 .413 

 .267 



.078 

 .043 

 .029 

 .024 

 .043 

 .012 

 .004 

 .043 

 .012 

 .007 



.019 

 .011 

 .007 

 .006 

 .011 

 .003 

 .001 

 .011 

 .003 

 .002 



239 

 5532 



Packing apples 



Hauling apples to barn 



Marketing barreled apples. . 



Marketing driers 



Picking up apples 



Equipment to and from or- 

 chard. 



Inspection 



Superintendence 



Aug. 28 to Nov. 21. 

 Sept. 28 to Oct. 31.. 

 Aug. 26 to Nov. 21. 



Oct. 2 to Dec. 4 



Oct. 31 to Dec. 3.... 



7922 



319. 48 21. 674 



959 

 1372 

 1932 

 84 J 

 125* 

 4" 



9* 

 34 



124* 

 383 



Itis'. 



171.66 

 43.71 

 93.28 

 40.86 

 22.46 

 1.94 



1.70 

 6.09 



Total for year 3.0622 



960* 



11. 645 

 2.965 

 6.329 

 2.772 

 1.524 

 .132 



.115 

 .413 



.325 

 .083 

 .177 

 .077 

 .043 

 .004 



.003 

 .012 



.081 

 .021 

 .044 

 .019 

 .011 

 .001 



.001 

 .003 



i Man-hour rate, 17.9 cents. 



2 Horse-hour rate, 15.3 cents. 



3 Hround harrowed over twice, 

 tooth drag. 



A 3-section spike-tooth harrow was used first, followed by a spring- 



