40 BULLETIN 614, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
previous to harvesting time, and second only to the cost of pruning, 
which is 19.55 per cent. Considering all the records in the Yakima — 
district, the thinning cost is 13.81 per cent of the total gross labor 
cost up to harvesting time, and in the Zillah district it is 23.22 per 
cent. 
TABLE XX XII.—Cost of thinning in orchards in the Yakima Valley. 
Aver- Cost. 
: Num- | _28° Man- 
e Sears } beror | oo Trees hours 
District. rec. | berof| per — 
ords. |2cresin| acre. = = Per Per Per 
* | orch- : acre. tree. box. 
ard. 
Under clean-cultural management: 
Northevakam 3 aos aac oeoeam ema 43 5.49 | 79.21 | 37.34] $9.33 | $0.12 | $0.0196 
Dan ee See eats rere eee oe 32 CATA 69.07 72. 43 18.1 . 26 . 0430 
North eYakimarand Zillah sseenee eee 75 6.44 | 74.88 | 52.31 | 13.08 Aal7/ . 0289 
Under mulch-crop management: 
NN orth Yiakinia sete = sense een eee 21 ASS NEB 978 I ava ai 8.13 Sali . 0187 
Zillah eee. oa c5 ok ds eae eee eee eee 24 7.85 67.03 55. 04 13.76 577A . 0378 
INortiheYakimaand)Zallan seen easenee eee 45 6.30 71.33 44.53 11.13 -16 . 0280 
All orchards: 
IN(OLADA WAAIE <6 coo sonoudasuossc seas See 64 5.18 | 78.24-| 35.76 8. 94 sll . 0190 
Zl aha ee so eee ao ee eee atone 56 ae. 68.19 64. 98 16. 24 . 24 . 0410 
iINorineyYakimarands 711 ahes eae eee 120 6.39 Tapes: 49.39 12. 35 al? . 0286 
| 
It would seem from Table XXXII that thinning is done more 
thoroughly in the Zillah district than elsewhere in the valley. This 
fact is borne out by the propping tables, which show that propping 
takes more time in the North Yakima than in the Zillah district. 
- The men in the Zillah district thin as thoroughly as possible in order 
to obviate a considerable amount of propping. 
The amount of thinning required on the clean-cultivated orchards’ 
is more than that on the orchards under mulch-crop management. 
No doubt this is due to the larger yield of the orchards under the 
former method of management. 
Considering all orchards from which data were obtained in the 
valley, an average of 49.39 man-hours is required for thinning, at a 
cost of $12.35 per acre, or $0.0286 per box. 
PROPPING. 
Propping is an annual practice of 60 per cent of the orchardists 
from whom records were obtained. It is governed to a great extent 
by the amount of pruning and thinning done. Most of the orchardists 
are beginning to make a more thorough thinning in order to obviate 
the necessity of so much propping. This, as has been noted, is 
especially true in the Zillah district. The cost of thinning for the 
Zillah district is more than twice as large as that for the North Yakima 
district, but the cost of propping is much lower. It was found that 
75 per cent of the orchardists under consideration in the North 
Yakima district practice some propping each year, but only 43 per 
cent followed the practice in the Zillah district. 
