APPLES 



387 



8. Fertilizers. 



Barn-yard manure. 

 Commercial fertilizers. 

 Cover crops. 



9. Spraying. 



10. Irrigating. 



11. Propping. 



12. Thinning fruit. 



13. Repair on pipe lines, flumes, ditches. 



14. Repair on fences. 



15. Repair of implements, harness, etc. 



16. Loss of trees and planting new ones. 



17. Grafting and budding. 



18. Hay and grain for horses, and care. 



19. Insurance on buildings, horses and implements. 



20. Unexpected expenses. 



Marketing expenses. 



1. Picking. 



2. Orchard Hauling. 



3. Packing 



4. Boxes, nails and making. 



5. Paper. 



6. Nails. 



7. Hauling. 



8. Help in packing house. 



9. Unexpected expenses. 



In this outline, as suggested by Mr. 

 Hovland, there are some important items 

 which are not considered, such as the 

 depreciation on the horses, tools, wagons, 

 spraying machines, etc., neither Is there 

 any selling expense, as the grower per- 

 haps sold his fruit direct and therefore 

 did not have to allow a commission to 

 the association or broker. No charge is 

 made for grading the fruit, as that is 

 possibly included in the packing charge. 

 No account is taken of the cost of load- 

 ing and bracing the boxed fruit in the 

 cars, although there is such a charge 

 made by most growers. 



One thing included in the above list of 

 items that does not seem to us like a 

 direct charge on producing a crop is that 

 of fertilizers. As a rule, the influence of 

 any application of fertilizers, whether in 

 the form of manure or cover crop, is felt 

 over a period of years, and under such 

 conditions it really becomes one of the 

 assets and becomes chargeable each year 

 under the head of depreciation. In that 

 case the annual charge for fertilizers be- 

 comes less. 



We hope our readers will consider these 

 figures as given above, and will discuss 



the plan as suggested by Mr. Hovland. A 

 cost system is not the product of one 

 man, and neither is it the outcome of 

 one year, but it is the result of the com- 

 bined efforts of a great many minds 

 working for a period of years on the 

 same problem. It has taken a score of 

 years for the printers to work out a cost 

 system that is simple and accurate, but 

 as it now is the matter of obtaining the 

 cost of printing any job is comparatively 

 simply and easily arrived at. In the cost 

 of producing apples, there is an almost 

 innumerable list of things which have to 

 be taken into consideration, but by com- 

 paring a number of different plans and 

 discussing them freely, an outline can be 

 worked out that will be simple and serv- 

 iceable to all. 



The Fbuit-Gbower, 



St. Josech. Mo. 



Cost of Spraying 



In our effort to find a unit of cost for 

 the various kinds of labor performed In 

 the orchard, and in the marketing of 

 fruits, we give herewith an estimate made 

 by E. A. Burnett, director of the Nebraska 

 Experiment station. It must be noted 

 that the cost in Nebraska may not be 



