July, 1914 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



I 



fruit ; then the cover is put in place and 

 kept there by use of six fasteners. These 

 fasteners hold the baskets firmly together 

 also. An attractive, oval-shaped, bright- 

 red label is put on the end of each basket, 

 announcing that these cherries are from 

 the "Leavens Orchards," of Prince Ed- 

 ward Co. This label serves as a modest 

 advertisement for our fruit, and a guar- 

 antee to the purchaser that the contents 

 of the package are what he paid for. 



After the orchardist has invested his 

 money in trees and land, has cultivated, 

 pruned and sprayed for a number of 

 years without returns, and he at last has 

 a crop which he thinks will reward him 

 for his trouble, he comes face to face 

 with the proposition which brings failure 

 or success to his venture. His problem is 

 to get sufficient of the consumer's dol- 

 lars to have a margin of profit on his 

 investment. 



I cannot answer the question of direct 

 shipment to the consumer satisfactorily. 

 In a small way one can sell direct to the 

 consumer but with any considerable quan- 

 tity of perishable fruit, like the cherry, 

 some other means of marketing must be 

 employed. Consumers might help them- 

 selves sometimes by clubbing their orders 

 and sending direct to the farm for sup- 

 plies. 



Edison says that it requires fully as 

 much genius to make money out of an 

 article after it is invented as it does to 

 invent it. The same is applicable to fruit 

 production. When we can sell direct to 

 the retailer, in my opinion we are getting 

 as close to the man who eats the fruit 

 as we may reasonably expect, there be- 

 ing then only two bites out of the cherry 

 between the orchard and the table, those 

 of the express companies that convey, 

 and the shop keeper who distributes. 



Profits from an Apple Orchard' 



WHAT returns may be expected 

 from an apple orchard? Whe- 

 ther a definite answer can be 

 given is a debatable question, but a very 

 j close approach is the statement of ten 

 ' years' profits from Auchter orchard near 

 Rochester, N.Y. The experiment was 

 conducted by the Geneva Experiment 

 Station. In a ten-year period any un- 

 usual conditions which might arise in a 

 single season would be lost sight of in 

 the general average. 



The trees are Baldwins, now thirty 

 ' seven years old, just entering their 

 prime. For the whole period the aver- 

 age yield per acre was 116 barrels, of 

 which seventy-nine were barrelled stock 

 and thirty-seven evaporator and cider 

 stock. The latter was unusually high 

 because of two heavy windstorms, yet 

 these are to be expected. Reduced to a 

 tree basis the average yield was 4.33 

 barrels total, 2.93 barrels barrelled 

 stock, and 1.4 barrels evaporator. 



INTEREST ON INVESTMENT 



Interest on investment is a difficult 

 factor to arrive at. In this case the 

 orchard was valued at $500 an acre, 

 which at five per cent, is twenty-five 

 dollars an acre or twenty-one cents a 

 barrel for 116 barrels. 



Taxes were rated at $1.50 an acre or 

 1.2 cents a barrel. 



No charge was made for depreciation 

 of outfit, but the orchard was debited 

 with cost of work and workmen which 

 the Station hired. For the average or- 

 chard the items would probably be 

 Team, $400; spraying outfit, $250; 

 harness, $50; waggon, $75; other equip 

 ment, $225; total, $1 ,000. At twenty 

 per cent, for depreciation and interest, 



•Summary of a bulletin by U. P. Hedrick, of 

 the Geneva Experiment Station. N.Y. 



seventeen cents a barrel would need to 

 be added to the cost. 



The annual cost of tillage was $7.39, 

 an acre, equal to 6.3 cents a barrel. The 

 orchard was plowed each spring, rolled 

 and then harrowed an average of seven 

 times each season. Teaming was hired 

 at $4.50 a day. The cover crop was 

 usually red clover, the seed of which cost 

 $2.74 an acre or 2.3 cents a barrel. 



Pruning was done at a cost of $3.56 

 a year per acre — equal to 13. i cents a 

 tree or three cents a barrel of apples. 

 The wages paid for labor was two dol- 

 lars a day of ten hours. 



The Station paid three hundred dollars 

 a year for superintendence of the work. 



This is equal to thirty dollars an acre, 

 $1.10 a tree, and twenty-five cents a 

 barrel. 



The apples were sorted and packed in 

 the field, then hauled one and one-half 

 miles over a country road to the sta- 

 tion. For these operations 24.4 cents 

 a barrel was allowed. Barrels were pur- 

 chased at an average price of thirty six 

 cents. 



COST or BARREL OF AiPPLES 



From the foregoing data the cost of 

 a barrel of apples at the shipping point 

 is compiled as follows : 



Interest on investment $0.21 



Taxes 012 



Tilling 063 



Pruning 03 



Spraying 096 



Cover crop 023 



Superintending orchard 25 



Picking, packing, hauling... .244 

 Cost of barrel 36 



Total $1.29 



During the ten years the average price 

 received for barrelled stock, which in- 

 cludes firsts and seconds, was $2.60. 

 For evaporator and cider stock seventy- 

 two cents was received. Subtracting 

 $1.29, the cost of production, from 

 $2.60, the selling price, there remains 

 a profit of $1.31 a barrel for firsts and 

 seconds. Multiplying by seventy-nine 

 the numl>er of barrels an acre, there was 

 a net profit of $103.49 an acre for bar- 

 relled stock. No barrels were required 

 for the evaporator stock, which cost 

 ninety-three \^nts a barrel. As these 

 sold at seventy-two cents a barrel, there 

 was a net loss of twenty one cents on 

 each of the thirty-seven barrels, or $7.89 



Sorting and Packing Chenias at Hillciett Orchards, Kentville, N. S. 



