lOO AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



one and one-half miles away, over a country road not better 

 than the average. 



The following is a summary of the cost sheet for a barrel of 

 apples : 



Interest on investment $ .21 



Taxes .012 



Tilling .063 



Pruning .03 



Spraying . . . .^ 096 



Cover crop .023 



Superintending orchard .25 



Picking, packing, sorting and hauling .244 



•93 



All of the first and second apples from this orchard have 

 been packed in barrels. The average price of barrels for ten 

 years has been thirty-six cents each, the price having fluctuated 

 from thirty to forty cents. The culls have been handled in 

 crates and a charge for packages cannot be entered against them. 

 Adding the cost of the barrel to the cost of production we have 

 $1.29 as the total cost of a barrel of apples. 



We come now to the average price of apples for the past ten 

 years, as grown in this orchard. We have received an average 

 of $2.60 for all the barreled stock sold, which includes firsts and 

 seconds. For evaporator and cider stock we have received 

 sixty-seven cents per barrel, rather above the average, possibly, 

 because two seasons' gales of wind, as I have said, gave an 

 abnormally large quantity of very good windfalls. 



We are now ready to calculate profits and declare dividends : 

 Subtracting $1.29, the cost of a barrel of apples, from $2.60, the 

 amount received, we have a net profit of $1.31 per barrel for 

 firsts and seconds. Multiplying by 79, the number of barrels 

 per acre, we have $103.49 as the profit per acre for firsts and 

 seconds. Subtracting ^2 cents from 93 cents we have 21 cents 

 as the difiference between average cost of production and aver- 

 age selling price of culls. Multiplying 37.5, the number of 

 barrels of culls per acre, by 21, we have a loss of $7.89 per 

 acre on the culls, leaving the average net profit per acre, in this 



