14 BULLETIN 614, U. 8S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
ORCHARDS. 
SIZE. 
The largest orchard considered in the North Yakima district was 
20 acres, the smallest 1 acre. The orchards from which records were 
obtained under mulch-crop management averaged 4.52 acres, a little 
smaller than the clean-cultivated, which average 5.49 acres. The 
bearing apple orchard occupies about the same proportion of the 
ranch under either system of management. There is an average of 
5.18 acres of bearing apple orchard out of 10.79 acres per ranch on 
the farms studied in the North Yakima district. 
In the Zillah district the orchards under mulch-crop management 
average 7.85 acres, and clean-cultivated orchards average 7.70 
acres. The bearing apple orchard occupies about the same propor- 
tion of the ranch under either method of management. Consider- 
ing all bearing orchards’ in the Zillah district, regardless of the 
method of soil management, the average size 1s 7.77 acres out of an 
average of 21.57 acres per ranch. 
The average bearing apple orchard of the valley, when all records 
are considered, is 6.39 acres out of the average of 15.82 acres per 
ranch. 
AGE. 
‘The average age of all orchards considered in this investigation 
was 12.6 years. The clean-culture orchards average 12.73 years and 
the mulch-crop orchards average 12.37. The average age of orchards 
in the Zillah district was 12.54 years, while in the Yakima district 
the average was 12.66. Trees in these districts, as in other North- 
western apple-producing sections, may be considered as bearing at 
7 years of age, and only orchards this old or older were considered 
in this investigation. Practically all varieties will bear on an average 
a box or more of marketable apples per year between the ages of 6 and - 
9. There were not yet in bearing 1,827 acres, or 58.24 per cent of the 
total apple acreage in the Zillah district; in the Nob Hill area there 
were 2,501 acres, or 62.89 per cent. The age of bearing orchards in 
the Zillah district varies from 8 to 22 years, though generally there 
seem to be two groups, those 8 to 12 years and those 18 to 22 years. 
The younger orchards appear to be the best cared for and the most 
profitable. ; 
VARIETIES. 
Between 50 and 60 varieties are grown by the orchardists from 
whom records were taken. The older orchards of the valley contain 
such varieties as Monmouth, York Imperial, Twenty Ounce, Missouri, 
and Ben Davis. As in other Northwest regions, earlier plantings 
were made of varieties well known to the ranchers in their 
home States. The small family orchards were the beginning of the 
