LABOR REQUIREMENTS OF ARKANSAS CROPS. 
45 
BEN DAVIS APPLES. 
Since apples are of many varieties, ripening at various times, and 
since the Ben Davis apple is the principal commercial variety in 
northwestern Arkansas, the chart for apples is based on that variety, 
which is harvested in October. (Fig. 44.) Various other varieties 
of apples may be harvested from June to October. 
The work on apple orchards is more nearly continuous than that 
on any other crop except rice. Apples are a safe crop and the trees 
bear regularly when the orchard is properly managed. Three times 
only in 50 years has the crop in northwest Arkansas been destroyed 
by freezes. 
The apple chart assumes that the work of cultivation is done with 
horses, but many of the larger orchardists find that the tractor is 
profitable for that work. It reduces the quantity of man labor 
materially. 
Fi<r. 44.— Labor on 10 acres of 
Ben Davis apples, northwest 
Arkansas. 
Conditions.— Sandy loam to 
silt loam soil; northwest Arkan- 
sas: white farmers; medium 
sized farms; trees, 1 5 to 20 years 
old: cultivated with two" and 
three horse implements; tractors 
are sometimes us^d; harvested 
in October (several varieties 
would be harvested earlier ) : dis- 
tance to market, 3 miles; yield. 
150 bushels per acre; spray mate- 
rials, 20 pounds of arsenate of 
lead, 50 gallons concentrated 
lime-sulphur, 75 pounds copper 
sulphate, and 80 pounds of lime 
per acre; these amounts should 
be used but the average or- 
chardist uses less. 
NUMBER 
OF 
DAYS 
eo 
MONTHS 
JAN. FEB. HAH. APR. MAY JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT. OCT. NOV. OEC 
NUMBER 
OF 
DAYS 
90 
M 
143 
.A3 
DA 
DR 
YS 
• ' 
BO 
- 
| ■ 
- ' 
■ ■ 
' 
eo 
70 
- 
- 
70 
60 
■ 
60 
SO 
50 
40 
. 
40 
SO 
- 
- J 
< 
- 
30 
eo 
■ ■ 
' 
I 
20 
10 
10 
50 
HO 
RSE 
92 
LA 
DA 
3CR 
YS" 
50 
40 
• 
• • 
- 
40 
30 
■ ■ 
30 
20 
• 
20 
10 
! 
i Prune. 
Spray. 
Culti- 
vate, 
Pick and 
pack. 
Haul to 
market. 
Miscel- 
laneous. 
Total. 
Before 
harvest. 
Harvest 
and 
market. 
Man davs 30 
27 
24 
10 
25 
60 
4 
12 
24 
4 
4 
143 
92 
71 
64 
72 
Horse days , 11 
28 
Man labor, except picking, 113 days. 
