UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



| BULLETIN No. 446 



OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 



Contribution from the Office of Farm Management 



W. J. Spillman, Chief 



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Washington, D. C. 



January 10, 1917 



THE COST OF PRODUCING APPLES IN WENATCHEE 

 VALLEY, WASH. 



[A detailed study, made in 1914, of the current cost factors involved in the mainte- 

 nance of orchards and the handling of the crop on 87 orchards.] 



By G. H. Miller, Assistant Agriculturist, and S. M. Thomson, Scientific Assistant. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 1 



Summary of results 2 



Description of region 2 



Method of survey 6 



Page. 



Orchard management 10 



Handling the crop 26 



Material costs 33 



Fixed costs 33 



INTRODUCTION. 



This bulletin is the first of a series designed to meet the long- 

 standing need for a careful study of apple orcharding in various parts 

 of the United States which would give comparative and detailed 

 information on the different methods of orchard management in 

 vogue and the several factors which enter into the cost of apple 

 production. This particular study was made during the summer and 

 fall of 1914 in Wenatchee Valley, Chelan County, Washington, in 

 territory tributary to the towns of Wenatchee, Monitor, and Cash- 

 mere. Complete and detailed data 1 were secured on the bearing 

 apple orchards of 87 ranches, 2 and the figures presented represent 

 conditions as they actually existed on the farms when surveyed in 

 1914. 



1 Unfortunately, few farmers keep accounts which would give the necessary information for a study of 

 the cost of conducting various farm enterprises. However, ample experience in the Office of Farm Manage- 

 ment has shown that although farmers may not have accurate records of their work, expenditures, and 

 income, the average farmer does have in mind fairly accurate information on these points, and this infor- 

 mation can be obtained from him by skillful questioning when the questions are stated in the terms in 

 which the farmer thinks. The Office of Farm Management has therefore developed the method of studying 

 cost of production by means of the farm survey, in which information is obtained from a large number of 

 farmers by direct interviews. In many instances it has been possible to compare averages thus obtained 

 with accurate records, and the results justify the conclusion that when the survey method is properly and 

 skillfully used the information obtained by it isordinarily as accurate as the results secured in carefully 

 conducted field experiments. The survey method was used in obtaining the information contained in 

 this bulletin. 



. 2 The word "ranch" is a local term for any farm, and the word ' 'rancher" is used in the sense of farmer. 

 Note.— Acknowledgment is due to the Office of Horticultural and Pomological Investigations of the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry for material assistance in the preparation of this bulletin. 

 58599° — Bull. 446 — 17A — 1 



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