I9I5 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 13 



is too much speed in picking. Too 

 mucii speed means too many apples 

 that are bruised and consequently a 

 heavy loss. Too much speed also 

 means too many spurs pulled ofT and 

 too many stems pulled out. When a 

 stem is pulled out, if the skin is broken, 

 the apple is unfit for any of the mar- 

 keting grades except the cooking grade. 

 If the spurs arc pulled off your crop is 

 not only shortened for next year, but 

 for many years afterward, as apple 

 spurs continue producing for many 

 years. Therefore, I never hurry my 

 pickers, but aim to find out by watch- 

 ing some average picker closely, how 

 many loose boxes he can pick a day 

 and then trying to maintain this aver- 

 age on the part of the other pickers. 

 In order that you may understand my 

 cost of picking being higher than I 

 think it sliould be, I want to explain 

 to you that four acres of my orchard 

 were old trees with a medium crop, 

 therefore requiring nnich ladder work, 

 necessarily making the expense greater 

 in picking. In addition to this, 32 acres 

 were in young orchard which arc just 

 beginning to bear, which also in- 

 creased the picking cost per box. The 

 size of the apples all the way through 

 was good, as I had 76% 4 tier, 17% 41/2 

 tier and only 7% o tier. Practically all 

 of the 5-tier crop came from old New- 

 town trees, which was my own fault, 

 because, although I thinned them to one 

 in a cluster, I did not thin them suffi- 

 cienlly, as the crop on these Newtown 

 trees in the old orchard was unusually 

 heavy. 



The total number of days in picking 

 was 156 for all the men engaged, mak- 

 ing an average per picker of 50 loose 

 boxes per man per day, which in my 

 case was equivalent to 35 packed boxes. 

 My pickers were paid $1.75 per day, 

 with the exception of my regular men 

 who helped out in this work part of 

 the time, and who received more. The 

 cost of picking can be reduced in sev- 

 eral ways under the same conditions. 

 The kind of ladder used is a big factor 

 in the cost of picking. The ladder 

 should be light, of convenient shape, so 

 that it can be quickly and easily 

 handled. 



If cost me one cent per box to make 

 my boxes, including the nails. Some 

 saving can be made on box making by 

 either training one of your own men 

 esiiccially in this line of work or se- 

 curing the services of an expert box 

 maker who can make them at three- 

 quarters of a cent per box and make 

 good wages. 



My grading cost me .0321. This, how- 

 ever, included the wiping of the entire 

 crop, which was necessary because I 

 had ajiplied bordeaux spray on the 20th 

 of ,lune and again on the fust of Au- 

 gust. It is my opinion thai grading, 

 even including a normal wiping, can be 

 done at a sum which will not exceed 

 to any great extent 2V2 cents. 



Hauling empty boxes to and the filled 



boxes from the orchard to the packing 



house cost me .0087. A saving could be 



accomplished in this line by using a 



Continued on page 25 



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