BULLETIN 500, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The average yield for the district is 284 boxes per acre; 3.8 per 

 tree. Average yield in Grand Valley, 275 boxes per acre; in Delta 

 County, 294; in Montrose County, 272. 



Table I.^-Summary of all costs entering into the annual cost of production of apples (125 



ranches, western Colorado). 



Maintenance 

 cost. 



Delta 



Montrose 



District.. 



£ 5 



I | 



.67. 77 9. 247 '26. 4 

 . 50.57 .17121 



Handling cost. 



48. 24 o. 176 



Material costs. Fixed costs. 



Total costs. 



18. 82 58. 25 0. 212 



£o 



22. 67 82. 51 

 24. 02 67. 83 



59.42 .202 25.4156.14 .191 



.47.64! .176i22.9J58.66j .216 28.16 50.78 . 187124. 38 51. 27 



. 56. 941 . 201 23. 8 54. 94; . 193 22. 87 56. 32 . 198 23. 46 71. 59 



I I I I I I ! i 



ft O 



O o 

 s-. — 



0. 300 32. 09 256. 77 0. 935 

 .23129.06 233.96 .795 

 .188 24.51208.35 .767 

 .252 29.85 239.79 .844 



i ! 



100 

 100 

 100 



100 



The trees in orchards studied average 17 years of age and 74 to 

 the acre. 



Jonathan is the leading variety, with Ben Davis, Eome Beauty, 

 Gano, and Winesap following, each of about equal importance. 



CONCLUSIONS DRAWN. 



Averages secured in this study seem to warrant the following 

 conclusions as to fruit farming in the Grand Valley and adjacent 

 districts : 



The majority of farms are not sufficiently diversified to secure 

 the best results. 



The farms studied were prosperous in direct proportion to the 

 degree of diversification practiced. 



Care must be taken in setting orchards to pick suitable soil and 

 an area well drained and not subject to seepage. 



Clean cultivation can not be practiced indefinitely without de- 

 pleting the soil seriously. Humus should be supplied either in the 

 form of manure or by using cover crops. 



Manure is of very great value as an orchard fertilizer. 



In general it seems inevitable that fruit growers must find im- 

 portant supplemental sources of income to tide them over years of 

 low fruit prices. This is a rich country, with the advantage of a 

 delightful climate, a naturally fertile soil, and an excellent class of 

 progressive settlers, and it is capable of becoming a region of well- 

 established general farming. Certain limited areas of the region are 

 particularly well adapted to fruit growing; for example, the fruit 

 ridges about Grand Junction and some of the mesa land in Delta 

 County not subject to frost. Much of the region is not adapted to 

 specialized fruit farming, and it is probable that fruit growing com- 

 bined with general farming will be more successful financially than 

 fruit growing alone. 



