THE PROFITS ON A BARREL OF APPLES 891 



item, then, is $25 per acre on investment, a sum which, divided 

 by 116.8 the number of barrels per acre gives a charge per 

 barrel of $.21 as interest on investment. 



TAXES 



Taxes vary greatly in different counties as they do somewhat 

 in different years in the same county. Since this orchard is but a 

 part of a general farm, only an estimate can be made of the cost 

 of taxes. There are few regions or years in New York in which 

 taxes for such an orchard would be over $1.50 per acre, making the 

 tax on each barrel of apples $.012 cents. 



DEPRECIATION OF OUTFIT 



The next account to be charged to cost of production is depreci- 

 ation in teams and tools, and interest on the money invested in 

 them. First-class machinery for running the average orchard will 

 cost in the neighborhood of $1,000, the items being as follows: 

 Team $400, spraying outfit $250, harness $50, wagon $75, plow, 

 harrows, ladders, crates, pruning tools, etc., $115. The figures 

 named are below rather than above average prices, but there are 

 few instances, indeed, in which the tools-and teams named would 

 be used exclusively for a ten-acre orchard. If we set the deprecia- 

 tion and interest on money at 20 per cent for the above equip- 

 ment, we must add $.17 per barrel of apples to the depreciation 

 account. In obtaining the cost of production in the Auchter 

 orchard, the depreciation account is thrown out, for the Station 

 hired all work done, the workmen furnishing their own teams and 

 tools. This item is put in, then, only as an approximation of what 

 men who are doing their own work must charge for depreciation. 



COST OF TILLAGE 



Passing now to orchard operations, the annual cost of tillage per 

 acre for the decade was $7.39, making the amount to be charged 

 against each barrel of fruit $.063. In this orchard, tillage con- 

 sisted of plowing the ground in the spring, after which it was 

 harrowed and rolled, and then cultivated by harrowing an average 

 of seven times per season. The price paid for team work at the 

 beginning of the period was $4 per day of ten hours ; but the price 

 advanced to $5, a fair average being $4.50. Tillage includes 



