COST OF PRODUCING APPLES IN YAKIMA VALLEY. 55 
There were 25 orchards in which one man was constantly employed 
in hauling boxes to and from the orchard. The average cost for 
this operation was $0.0124 per loose box, or $0.0186 per packed box. 
One hundred and eight orchardists make a practice of hauling 
empty boxes to the orchard and full boxes to the packing house on 
the ranch, at a cost of $0.0216 per packed box. The orchard hauling 
charge, considering the 120 orchards, whatever the size of crew or 
method employed, was $0.0205 per packed box. (See Table XLII.) 
PACKING-HOUSE LABOR. 
Packing-house labor includes sorting, packing, nailing, waiting 
on the packers or sorters, foremen services, and any other packing- 
Fic. 12.—A packing crew on a small ranch in the Yakima district. Most men pack all their fruit 
inside the packing house. 
house labor, such as the service of truckers or men employed to 
handle the boxes about the packing house. (See fig. 12.) Ordinarily 
extra help is employed only where a large packing crew is used, the 
members of the family usually making up the crew. 
The packing-house-labor cost for the 64 farms about North Yakima 
was $45.47 per acre, or $0.0984 per box, and $45.64 per acre, or 
$0.1147 per box, for the 56 farms about Zillah or the lower Yakima 
Valley. If the 120 farms studied are considered, the average cost 
was $45.55 per acre, or $0.1054 per box, or 30.57 per cent of the total 
net maintenance and handiing costs. (See Table XL.) 
