COST OF PRODUCING APPLES IN YAKIMA VALLEY. Bil 
_a water tax from $0.75 to $6 per acre. The prorata‘ cost in this 
district for water tax is $3.10 per acre. The maintenance charge 
or tax per acre in the Zillah district on the Government ditch is $1. 
The prorata cost in this district for water tax is $0.86 per acre. 
The unit of measure for water is an inch (miner’s) per acre. The 
average prorata maintenance charge per acre for water in the valley 
(120 records) is $2.06. 
TABLE XX X.— Time chargeable and the labor cost per acre for irrigation on 120 orchards 
of different acreages in Yakima Valley. 
! Bris ; ie North Yakima and Zillah 
North Yakima district. Zillah district. dinners 
Acres in orchard. |Num-|Num- Num-) Num- Nua IN! 
ber. | ber | wan- | Cost} ber | ber | yay. | Cost | ber | ber | yoy. | Cost 
Cre hours. | 2°! of | Of | hours. | Pet | of |. 0 hours. |_Pe? 
rec- jirriga- * | acre. | rec- jirriga- * | aere.| rec- jirriga- * |acre. 
ords. | tions. ords. | tions. ords. | tions. 
PB e) iaicieloig eislnnns Sere 46 | 4.62 | 21.65 |$5. 41 20 | 3.50 | 17.83 |$4. 46 66 
4.28 | 20.49 | $5.12 
Galas eee Gaaee sates - 14 | 4.43 | 18.54 | 3.39 24 | 4.00 | 14.437) 3.61 38 | 4.16 | 14.10] 3.53 
PAO see eee 4) 3.75 | 14.92 | 3.73 12.) 3.42 | 12.84 | 3.21 16 | 3.50) 13.36] 3.34 
US ZO ere ears cre oe ie 64 | 4.52.| 19.45 | 4.86 56 | 3.70} 15.30] 3.83 | 120) 4.14] 17.52] 4.38 
The first irrigation on apple orchards in the valley is made usually 
in the latter part of April or the first part of May, depending to a great 
extent on the moisture present in the soil. The number of irriga- 
tions made by the individual ranchers varies considerably throughout 
the valley. An irrigation is made usually every four to six weeks 
throughout the season, in both clean and mulch-crop orchards, some 
men irrigating as late as the Ist of September. Data for the North 
Yakima district show an average of 4.52 irrigations, and for the Zillah 
district an average of 3.70 irrigations. 
The water is allowed to run in one place in the orchard from 24 to 
72 hours, the time varying to a considerable extent with the type of 
soil. Usually the water is kept running till the widening zones of 
saturation meet between furrows. The length of time the water is 
allowed on one place is governed also by the head of water in the 
ditch. At the time of the first irrigation it often requires a longer 
period to saturate the soil than later. The length of time for each 
irrigation is governed also to a considerable extent by the contour 
of the land, which in.turn governs somewhat the length of the fur- 
rows used for carrying the water. On hilly lands the length of the 
ditches is reduced to avoid washing of the soil. An orchardist may 
have to spend all of his time on irrigation the first few days early in 
the season, but on the average it requires for the season but from 
one to three hours per day on the average-size apple orchard in the 
Yakima Vailey. Table XX XI gives the labor cost and the pro rata 
cost for water maintenance. 
1 ‘‘ Prorata’’ cost is the actual cost distributed over all records. 
