2 BULLETIN 614, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
including data on labor necessary for the annual upkeep of the orchard, 
on the care and harvesting of the crop, total investment, insurance, 
taxes, and all other.expenses connected either directly or indirectly 
with production. One hundred and twenty records were taken. 
Conditions prevailing in the Yakima Valley differ in some respects 
- from those in any other of the important apple-producing regions 
ot the Northwest. Two more or less distinct types of fruit farming are 
found. In the vicinity ot the city of North Yakima is a highly 
specialized orcharding similar to that about Wenatchee, while in the 
lower valley, about the town of Zillah, there is a more diversified type 
of farming, with the growing of apples as one of several farm enter- 
prises. 
In this bulletin the acre is used as a basis of comparison. If the 
box were used as a unit, the figure for different districts might be 
misleading, since there might be a considerable variation in yield on 
orchards of the same size and age in different districts. 
FACTS BROUGHT OUT. 
Following is a brief summary of the more important facts brought 
out in this study of 120 bearing orchards in the Yakima Valley: 
Average size of ranch:+ 
q 5 ‘ene Yakima district (64 ranches), 10.79 acres. 
All records, 15.82 acres Zillah district (56 ranches), 21.57 acres. 
Average size of bearing orchard: 
North Yakima district, 5.18. 
All records, 6.39 acres\7tah district, 7.77. 
Average investment: 
All records, per ranch, $14,504.32, of shih $6,071.38 represents Jae bearing 
apple orchard. 
All records, per acre of bearing apples {North Yakima district, $1,531.25. 
$1,079.87 Bea district, $963.57. 
Average annual yield: : 
Per acre, 432 boxes. 
All records | poy tree, 5.87 boxes. 
Average net cost per box: 
Net labor cost, $0.3449. 
All records, $0.8002{c set other than labor, $0.4553. 
Average interest on investment: 
All records, $0.1999 per box (75.9 per cent of fixed cost and 24.98 per cent of 
total net cost of production). 
THE YAKIMA DISTRICT. 
Yakima County is located in the south-central part of the State 
of Washington (see fig. 1). It is bounded on the west by the main 
range of the Cascade Mountains, which separates it from the SUES 
of Pierce, Lewis, and Skamania; on the south by Klickitat Count 
on the east by Benton County and the Columbia River; and on the 
north by Kittitas County. 
i The word “‘ranch”’ is a locai term for any farm, and the word “‘rancher’’ is used in the sense of farmer, 
