384 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



lowest item in tiie labor table was in 

 1905, when evidently tiie crop was light, 

 if one may judge by the cost of barrels. 

 However, the year 1910 shows a labor cosi 

 of only $175.26, when the barrels cost 

 $116.90, or almost as much as in 1902, 

 when the labor cost was $339.45. Is there 

 not the likelihood that the orchardist 

 scanned his cost sheet and saw that la- 

 bor was costing him too much and cut it 

 down accordingly? This is one of the 

 most interesting and valuable features of 

 the table. The orchardist, M. C. Burritt, 

 concludes as follows: 



"To sum up these items of cost we find 

 that, taking the average of nine years, 

 with an annual crop of 409 barrels, or 67 

 per acre, on 6.1 acres of old apple orchard, 

 that spray material costs $.034 per barrel; 

 packages, $.325; interest on land, $.084: 

 use of equipment, $.068; taxes, etc., $.011; 

 labor, $.565, or a total of $1.10 per barrel. 

 If the estimated cost of the manure, 6 

 cents, be added, the total will be $1.16. 

 This cost, of course, varies with the size 

 of the crop. When our yield was 102 bar- 

 rels per acre the cost per barrel was only 

 83 cents. When it was 35 barrels per 

 acre the cost per barrel rose to $1.73. In 

 1910 we grew a crop of 55 barrels per acre 

 for $1.20 per barrel. 



"To put it in another way, we could 

 grow and deliver on board the cars at 

 our station a barrel of apples for from $1 

 to $1.25 with an average crop under aver- 

 age conditions. In doing this we would 

 expect to make five per cent on the capital 

 invested and to receive fair wages for our 

 labor. In addition to this we should have 

 all the culls and the windfall apples to 

 sell at a clear profit, for the cost of pro- 

 ducing and handling these has been in- 

 cluded in the costs given above, as it 

 could not well be separated. These have 

 amounted to an average of 29 cents per 

 barrel in the last nine years. To reduce 

 the matter to a still lower basis, we think 

 that our experience has shown that we 



can expect to grow and sell a barrel of ap- 

 ples for 90 cents and pay all expenses con- 

 nected with its i)roduction." — Spokesman 

 Review. 



Results on Kl^ht Acres iu Idaho 



Statement of 1910 fruit crop from eight 

 acres of orchard owned by B. F. Tussing, 

 Fruitland. Idaho. Trees 13 years old. 



Boxes 

 No. Boxes Per 



Varieties Trees Produced Tree 



.Tonatlian 100 1,936 19.36 



Rome Beaiitv 176 3.50.S 19.88 



White Winter I'eai-main 47 780 16.57 



Mammotli Black Twig... 18 371 20.61 



Dregon Red 12 151 12.58 



Ben Davis 4 48 12.00 



Delaware Red 13 135 10.38 



(iiiivenstein 15 294 19.00 



Arkansas Black 180 2,430 13.50 



Totals on eight acres.. 565 9,648 .... 



Ntiraber Price 



Grades Boxes Received 



Extra Fancy 6,048 .'58.164.80 



Kincy 2, son 2,541.00 



Choice 1,300 1,050.75 



Totals 9,648 .$11,756.55 



Average per acre, 1,206 boxes, $1,469.57. 



Expense account to be deducted from 

 the above as follows: 



Per 

 Harvesting Box 



Boxing, and making boxes .$0.13 



Packing f 5 



Sorting 02 



Paper 02 



Nailing boxes, help in packing house 03 



Hauling to cars, loading and bracing 02 



Hauling, orchard to packing house ni 



I'icking 04 



Total -$0.32 



Orchard Expenses 



Interest on investment $960.00 



Pi-uning and hauling brush 160.00 



Cultivating 96.00 



Thinning fruit 95.00 



Spraying 80.00 



Irrigation 48.00 



Taxes 44.00 



Propping Trees 40.00 



Water assessment 14.00 



Repairing fences 8.00 



Total $1,545.00 



Orchard expense, per box $0.10 



Harvesting expense, per box 32 



Total cost of production, per box 0.48 



Gross returns, eight acr 

 Cost of production 



Net balance, eight acres. 



$11,756.55 

 4,631.04 



$7,125.51 



