CHAPTER XV 

 ANNUAL COST FACTORS IN GROWING PEACHES 



From a business standpoint it is important that a peach- 

 grower should know what it costs him to produce a crop of 

 fruit. From the orchard management standpoint, it is an 

 exceedingly difficult matter to determine accurately. The 

 price and efficiency of labor, seasonal conditions, and cost of 

 supplies and equipment vary from year to year. The size 

 of the crop also varies. The variation in the crop from year 

 to year is perhaps the most uncertain factor of all in deter- 

 mining costs. The orchard must be maintained whether the 

 crop is light or heavy, or even if there be none. Most of the 

 overhead charges, including management, interest on the in- 

 vestment, taxes, and the like, are constant factors of expense. 

 If the crop is light, some of the labor items, thinning the 

 fruit for example, are reduced in proportion to the size of 

 the crop, but for the major operations the cost is not greatly 

 affected by the size of the crop. The profits, therefore, come 

 largely from the regular production of good crops. 



While it may be both desirable and practicable for the 

 grower to keep a very accurate cost-account with his orchard, 

 his figures would be little more than suggestive so far as other 

 orchards are concerned, but of value in that respect. A care- 

 ful consideration of the annual cost factors, however, is of 

 definite concern to every grower, at least so far as they have 

 to do with orchard maintenance. 



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