Page 26 



BETTER FRUIT 



The Cleanest Apple Crop 



AND ONE OF THE LARGEST EVER 



GROWN IN 



HOOD 

 RIVER 



Was sprayed with the 



Sulphur and 

 the Miscible Oil 

 Sprays 



Lime -Sulphur 

 Spra-Sulphur 

 Spra-Oil 

 Arsenate of Lead 



Our Sprays are used and en- 

 dorsed by the Hood River Ap- 

 ple Growers' Association and 

 the Hood River Experiment 

 Station. 



MANUFACTURED BY THE 



J. C. BUTCHER CO 



HOOD RIVER. OREGON 



, ^r cti-tryvc^ \^tft,aii'y af£*^yt-'' '^^'y,*^*'"^'^*"^^"' 



DdRfflDSEEDCQi 



Lime-Sulphur Hydrometer ^^^ 



Price by mail with Test Jar and Instructions $1.00 



^^^_^„ . Used by all 

 r't^^t~ ^i^ Progressive 



Fruit-Growers 



AGENTS WANTED 

 EVERYWHERE 



Griebel Instrument Co., Carbondale, Pa. 



Costs Little More 



TO C30 EAST 



VIA 



CALIFORNIA 



Before selecting the route for your next trip East consider these 

 three important things: 



C^j-^tJpP Steel cars, through standard or tourist 



sleeping cars, unexcelled dining cars. 



heavy steel rails, consistant speed. 



Cr> f pf-\7 Rock ballast, automatic block signals, 



Scenery I 



Known throughout the country as 

 The Road of a Thousand Wonders." 



LIBERAL STOP-OVERS 



Our Agents are well informed. Ask them regarding train schedules, or write 



JOHN M. SCOTT. GENERAL PASSENGER AGENT 

 PORTLAND 



SoutKern Pacific I^ines 



April 



pay close to 50 cents a box, half of 

 every dollar of returns, for overhead 

 expense. A great variation exists in 

 these costs, however, when we come to 

 consider the individual orchards re- 

 viewed in the bulletin, overhead rang- 

 ing from as low as 20 cents to as high 

 as 60 cents per box in trees 10 years 

 and older. The reason for this lies in 

 the great variability in investment 

 amounts, both original costs and devel- 

 opment costs. Some raw land has been 

 rawer than other, and some real estate 

 merchants have bought Pierce-Arrows 

 instead of "Fierce-Narrows." Too many 

 orchards have been planted without 

 enough emphasis being placed on the 

 necessity of paying interest on the in- 

 vestment. As a result, the apples pro- 

 duced, although selling at fancy prices, 

 are having to pay out a large portion of 

 each dollar returned on original invest- 

 ment. In general it might be said that 

 an overhead cost of over 40 cents a box 

 is too high, and that the grower who 

 will survive the chilling years to come 

 is the one who can grow his apples 

 with an overhead of less than 30 cents 

 per box. This cost, from its very nature, 

 cannot be standardized, but a study of 

 it will not hurt anyone. 



Handling costs cover two fields: (1) 

 Picking and packing expense, in which 

 we include picking, grading, packing, 

 trucking, hauling, paper, boxes, tem- 

 porary storage or association charges, 

 putting on board the cars, and super- 

 vision. (2) Selling expense, which in- 

 cludes all selling charges. For a thor- 

 oughgoing discussion of handling costs 

 I would like to refer you to Mr. Shep- 

 herd's paper of last year, in which each 

 item is handled separately, and comes 

 as near being standardized as we can 

 hope to get for some time. Mr. Shep- 

 herd gave as his cost of handling for 

 1915 31.9 cents per box. He said that a 

 saving might be made beyond that of 

 4.5 cents per box, making total cost of 

 harvesting at 27.5 cents per box. I be- 

 lieve that if we were to ask him he 

 would say that his cost has increased 

 this year, due to the increased cost of 

 materials and increased labor prices. 

 Our cost near Dayton increased from 

 31.7 cents in 1914 to 35.5 cents in 1910. 

 Picking cost us a cent more, grading 

 amounted to 3.6 cents per box, an in- 

 crease of 1.6 cents over 1914. To set a 

 price at which apples should be har- 

 vested without a great waste, let us say, 

 then, that 32 cents a box is about a 

 standard. Then, taking maintenance, 

 overhead and handling costs, we have 

 10 plus 30 plus 32 cents, that is, 72 cents 

 cost — i.e., between 70 and 75 cents — a 

 cost at which a|)|)lcs nnist be raised 

 under present conditions to be i)rofit- 

 able. I would like to go into more de- 

 tail concerning handling costs, but this 

 is an entire subject in itself, so if you 

 are at all interested get last year's Year 

 Rook and read Mr. Shcphard's paper. 

 Then keep cost accounts of your own, 

 and help in collecting information for 

 next year's meeting. 



WHEN WRITING ADVERTISERS MENTION BKTTER FRUIT 



