COST OF PRODUCTION" OF APPLES, PAYETTE VALLEY, IDAHO. 3 



Proper soil, good drainage, and a site not subject to frost danger are essential to the 

 success of the apple industry on these farms. 



Investment in land, yield, quality of fruit, soil, climate, and price received for fruit 

 are all important limiting factors in the production of fruit and should be considered 

 carefully by the present or prospective fruit grower. 



Though these conclusions are advanced as applying only to the 38 

 farms studied., it is believed that they will apply in large measure to 

 the Payette fruit region as a whole. 



LOCATION AND EXTENT OF DISTRICT STUDIED. 



The Payette, apple-growing section is located near Snake River, 

 in the extreme northwestern part of Canyon County, on the Oregon 

 Short Line Railway. Canyon County is in western Idaho, about 

 150 miles north of the Nevada line. (See fig. 2.) The elevation at 

 Payette is 2,159 feet. This is a very extensive region, the limits 

 of which are not well defined, as fruit growing is scattered the length 

 of the Payette Valley and also follows the Snake and Boise River 

 valleys. The most intensive of the bearing-orchard sections, how- 

 ever, is located in what is known as the Fruitland district, which is 

 a triangular bench lying between the Payette and Snake Rivers, 

 including about 25,000 acres of irrigated land. (See PL I.) 



Only a small portion of the bench land is devoted to fruit. Hay 

 and grain farming is the prevailing type, and considerable live stock 

 is raised. (See fig. 3.) The principal shipping stations are Fruit- 

 land, a station about 5 miles south of Payette, and New Plymouth, 

 a station 12 miles southeast of Payette. The elevation of Fruitland 

 is about 2,200 feet. The entire bench is comparatively flat, rising 

 from the rivers on either side and forming a broad, level table. 

 From where the Payette River empties into the Snake River, fruit 

 continues along the east bank of that river, in scattered areas, as 

 far north as Weiser, a distance of about 18 miles from Payette. 

 Other shipping stations are Emmett, Parma, and Woodspur. 



The estimated extent of orchard acreage in the Payette district 

 is approximately 20,000 acres, of which 90 per cent is in apples. 

 Prune plantings take up most of the remaining acreage. The greater 

 part of the apple acreage has not yet come into bearing. Pears, 

 cherries, peaches, and berries are grown only to a limited extent. 



As this region is located a long way from the centers of distribu- 

 tion, the transportation problem is an important one. Thus the 

 location has had much to do with the development of the type of 

 agriculture, and many farmers have found it more profitable to feed 

 their grain and hay to stock than to ship bulky products to distant 



HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT. 



The Payette Valley is an old settled region. A few ranches were 

 taken up as early as 1849, but it was not until after 1884, when the 

 railroad came in, that the development of the district was marked. 



