8 



Average Prices, Costs of Marketing, and Margins over Costs of Marketing. 



*Sold at door, buj^er furnishing container and hauling away. 



A comparison of the prices and margins over costs of marketing for all 

 graded atopies and for those vingraded which are merely picked, sorted and 

 packed is of interest. Ail graded apples, including the so-called ungraded 

 remaining after other grades are removed, brought an average price of $1.79 

 per bushel, with an average margin of $1.03. The true ungraded apples 

 brought an average price of $1.03 with a margin over costs of marketing of 

 57 cents a bushel, practically half the margin on all graded apples. Omitting 

 the inferior grade, the graded apples brought an average price of $1.88 with 

 an average margin of $1.08 per bushel. 



According to the data tabulated, B grade apples sold to country buyers 

 brought a higher average price than did A's sold by the same method. This 

 may be explained by the fact that comparatively few apples of B grade were 

 sold by this method, tending to give undue weight to any unusual instances; 

 and that some lots of apples brought the same price for A and B grades. 



In the case of ungraded apples, it is noticeable that the country buyer paid 

 more for the inferior class than for the true ungraded. This may, perhaps, 

 be explained by the probabilitj^ that the growers who grade their apples care- 

 fully do so because they are better acquainted with market conditions and 

 are therefore in a position to make a better bargain with the buyer. 



Information secured with reference to the expenditure of labor necessary 

 to pick, sort, grade and pack showed that there is a wide variation in labor 

 as in money costs. The average number of bushels reported picked in a day 

 is about 48, although orchard conditions have a marked influence in the matter. 

 Sorting, grading and packing, which are usually considered as one item, av- 

 erage a little higher, one worker packing about 54 bushels a day. Llany gi'ow- 

 ers, however, estimated that the labor costs of this item are about the same as 

 for picking. 



