99 



of the period to its present valuation of $150 per acre, due 

 to its improvement and the general increase in the price of 

 land, the amount of interest has also varied. The same is 

 true of the equipment charge, which has also increased each 

 year. The average valuation of the land for nine-year 

 period was $122.13. This means an annual interest charge 

 an acre of $6.11 or 8V2 cents a barrel. The equipment 

 charge, which is interest, repairs and depreciation on the 

 machinery used in the orchard, amounts to more than 61/2 

 cents a barrel or $4.79 an acre. Taxes and insurance on the 

 buildings distributed per acre for the farm, averaged 80 

 cents or a trifle over a cent a barrel. 



Labor is the largest single item. For the first thre^ 

 years this was estimated on the basis of the cost for the next 

 five years for which more careful records were kept. This 

 labor is computed at its actual cost to us on the farm. The 

 rates an hour were 151/2 cents for men and I314 cents for 

 horses. The rate an hour of the man labor was obtained by 

 dividing the total amount of money paid for labor, plus the 

 cost of the board, by the total number of hours worked on 

 the farm during the year. In the case of the horses a fixed 

 charge of $10 a month or $120 a year was made, and this 

 amount divided by the number of hours the horses worked, 

 gave the rate an hour. These charges amount to $4.25 a 

 day for man and team. The cost of the labor to grow, pick 

 and market a barrel of apples was 52 cents, or $36.60 an acre 

 ■with an ayerage yield of 7Q barrels an acre. 



