COST OF PRODUCING APPLES IN HOOD RIVER VALLEY. 



total labor and material cost for harvesting is 33. TT per cent of the 

 total of all costs. 



Credits. — Cull fruit pays a net annual cash credit of $4.06 per acre 

 (gross $5.13, less $1.97 per acre for extra labor on culls). 



Twenty- four mulch-crop orchards show an average annual credit 

 of $6.18 per acre for hay (gross $9.59 per acre, cost of harvesting 

 $3.41). 



Size and type of farms. — The 54 farms studied average 39.45 acres 

 in size, with 69 per cent of the farm area tillable. Apples and straw- 

 berries are the staple 

 fruits. Considerable 

 quantities of alfalfa 

 and of timothy are 

 grown and a small 

 acreage of grain. 



The orchards. — 

 The orchards studied 

 average 12.4 acres in 

 size, 12 years of age, 

 and 72 trees to the 

 acre. Apple or- 

 chards constitute 32 

 per cent of the total 

 farm acreage. Yel- 

 low Newtown and 

 Esopus are grown, 

 practically to the 

 exclusion of other 

 varieties. 



Investments. — 

 Total investment per 

 farm is $23,487.36; 

 per acre of apple 

 orchard, $990.74. 



Orchard manage- 

 ment. — Thirty of the 

 54 growers practice 

 clean cultivation, 

 while 24 use mulch 

 crops, usually in the form of alfalfa or clover. In general the clean- 

 cultivated orchards are not as yet irrigated, while all the mulch-crop 

 or shade-crop orchards are under irrigation. 



Yield. — The average yield, all records, is 222 boxes per acre; for 

 clean-cultivated orchards, 218; for mulch-crop orchards, 228. This 

 refers to packed boxes of marketable fruit only. 



Fig. 1. — Map of western Oregon showing the location of 

 Hood River Valley where the investigation was made. 

 The shaded area is Hood River County. 



