COMMERCIAL ORCHARDING IN WEST VIRGINIA. 13 
sleeping quarters. Under such conditions young men from schools 
and colleges find congenial employment, as well as the sons of respect- 
able citizens in the community. 
HORSE LABOR. 
A man with one horse to plow or cultivate is generally paid $2 to 
$2.25 per day. A man with two horses may receive $2.50 to $3.50 
per day. Frequently a man with ateam isemployed bythe hour, when 
he may receive in some sections 30 cents per hour for a 2-horse team 
or 50 cents per hour for a 4-horse team. 
From an accurate record on one farm it cost for the entire year an 
average of $13 per month to care for and feed one mule. This did 
not include the fre- 
quent pasturing of 
the mule on Sundays. | 
Another orchardist 7000 
found that the cost 
of keeping a horse 
during the year was 
about $15 per month. % 
The variation is $8 to & 
$15 per month, de- : 
pending largely on ty 
Fo 
R 
8000 
the price of feed, 
which during the past 
10 years has varied 
from $12 to $35 per 
ton for hay and 50 
cents to $1 per bushel 
forcorn. It has been 
acommon practice in —_ 4200 
this section to sell the 
mules and horses in 
thefall when the culti- 
vating season is over". Feseercrerentoee 
and to buy again in This is approximately the amount of time that 20 mules—the 
the spring when the proper number for such an orchard—could be used during the year. 
growing season begins. Not all, however, regard this practice as 
satisfactory. There is a loss of 10 to 20 per cent in buying and selling 
in this manner. 
Figure 4 shows in graphic form the number of hours of man labor 
Wii 
Y 
Wi 
17 
2,000 
oe — = —\ 
APR 1M 
~ employed on a 400-acre peach orchard during the year 1911. Most 
of the labor represents work done with teams, and shows quite accu- 
rately the relative amount of time 16 mules were employed. 
