COST OF PRODUCING APPLES IN" WENATCHEE VALLEY, WASH. 7 



been taken, the records were not used in the final compilations. 

 After eliminating the discrepancies there were 87 complete records 

 which fully met the specifications. 



INVESTMENTS. 



Estimates of the amount of capital invested were obtained from 

 each orchardist. This estimated value, in the majority of cases, was 

 the amount the rancher paid for the place, plus the value of such 

 improvements as he had made since the purchase. There were a few 

 ranchers who had owned their property before local land values had 

 advanced to any great extent. Most of these men based their esti- 

 mates on prices that at some time or other had been offered for their 

 holdings. These estimates were generally found to approximate 

 closely prices that had been paid for adjacent land in bona fide sales. 

 The values may seem high, but they represent actually what the 

 majority of men visited in this investigation either had paid or had 

 been offered for their orchards. In all probability a lower valuation 

 would be given now (1916). 



As figured from the estimates of the 87 owners, the average total 

 investment per ranch is $20,974, while the average investment in 

 bearing apple orchards per ranch is $12,250. By giving each of the 

 87 orchards the same weight, that is, taking the estimated value of a 

 single acre of bearing apples as representative of each orchard, there 

 is an estimated average investment of $1,925 per acre for bearing 

 apples. The annual interest charge on this alone amounts to $154 

 per acre, at 8 per cent. (See Table III.) 



Table III. — Average investment and average acreage per ranch (87 ranches) in Wenatchee 



Valley in 1914. 



Average investment per ranch $20, 974. 00 



Average investment per acre. $2, 026. 00 



Average size of ranch (acres) 11. 4 



Average size of bearing apple orchard (acres) 6. 5 



Average value per acre of bearing apple orchard $1, 925. 00 



COMMERCIAL VARIETIES GROWN. 



Over 60 varieties of apples are grown in Wenatchee Valley. In 

 some of the older orchards are found the Baldwin, Rhode Island 

 Greening, Northern Spy, Ben Davis, York Imperial, *and other vari- 

 eties which are of fit tie commercial importance to the orchardists of 

 the valley. These varieties were planted by the earlier pioneers. 



The older commercial orchards of the valley to-day contain for the 

 most part varieties such as Winesap, Jonathan, Esopus, and Rome 

 Beauty. The Winesap, Jonathan, Stayman, Rome Beauty, together 



