32 



BULLETIN 500, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



MISCELLANEOUS LABOR. 



All major orchard operations prior to harvesting time have been 

 discussed, but their remain many minor items of labor which in the 

 aggregate have considerable weight. These items, in order of impor- 

 tance are cleaning laterals and waste ditches (including mowing 

 weeds along the ditches) (see fig. 9); propping; summer pruning or 

 water sprouting; cleaning up the packing shed; hoeing weeds; mow- 

 ing weeds or mulch crop to leave on the ground as a mulch; sowing 

 mulch crops, and other occasional items. These odd costs were com- 



Fig. 9.— Cleaning a waste ditch in the Grand Valley district. This operation is necessary at least once 

 a year and is one of the principal items of miscellaneous labor. 



bined and the time distributed over the total number of records for 

 each countv. (See Table XXII.) 



Table XXII. — Miscellaneous labor (125 ranches, western Colorado). 



Item. 



Man-hours, per acre. 

 Horse-hours, per acre 



Cost per acre 



Cost per box 



Mesa. 



Delta. 



Montrose- 



12.35 



9.58 



11.5 



.71 



3.33 



7.8 



S3. 20 



82.89 



S4. 05 



80. 012 



SO. 010 



SO. 015 



All coun- 

 ties. 



10.90 



2.84 



S3. 14 



SO. 011 



ORCHARD HEATING. 



Orchard heating or smudging, as it is generally termed by growers 

 in this region, has for several years been very much out of favor in 

 western Colorado. There are now few men left who have the equip- 

 ment to smudge and still fewer who believe in it. It is still prac- 

 ticed in the Palisade peach district. In the spring of 1915, when 



