85 



.failed to co«ni, the- cost. The ineomchas usually been esti- 

 mated for all it was worth, and the cost of production 

 ignored, or practically so. It is true that there has been lit- 

 tle or no basis in accurate records of the facts for the deter- 

 mination of costs. Few growers of fruit have thought it 

 worth while to count the costs. 



There has been good money in the production of ap- 

 ples. Under the right conditions and with good manage- 

 ment there is likely to be a fair profit in apple growing in 

 the future — though probably a smaller one than in 

 the past. But more and more are the profits in the business 

 likely to be measured by the cost of production. Those of 

 us so situated that we can grow good apples at the lowest 

 possible cost or who are able to obtain the highest market 

 prices for our apples are most likely to stay in the business. 

 Those whose costs are high by reason of unfavorable condi- 

 tions, and those whose marketing costs are large, will grad- 

 ually be eliminated from the business of apple growing. 



Growers of apples in New England have two great fac- 

 tors in their favor. The first of these is a fairly low cost of 

 production ; the second is a comparatively low marketing 

 cost. 



With a soil and climate especially favorable to the pro- 

 duction of high quality apples, with cheap land, and with 

 general farms on which there are other important sources 

 of income, the costs of production should be reduced to a 

 minimum. Few fruit growers realize the importance of 

 these advantages. But experience has shown that apples 

 can with few exceptions, and these mostly very large planta- 

 tions, be produced at a much lower cost on a general farm 

 than on a highly specialized one, because of a better distri- 

 bution of labor, equipment, interest and other costs. 

 THE PROBLEM. 



Our purpose is to find out if possible the cost of grow- 

 ing an apple orchard to bearing age and the cost of pro- 

 ducing a barrel of apples in a mature orchard. These costs, 

 as we have found them out, are under Western New York 



