May, 1931] Studies in Economics of Apple Orcharding 7 



A machine may be made and when made is ready for production, 

 but an apple tree passes gradually through the phases of its life and at 

 every phase has a different relation to the problem of cost and manage- 

 ment. It is to be noted that with the non-bearing tree all the expense 

 of pruning, fertilizing and spraying, etc., is an investment. A little 

 later when the tree begins to bear, the greater part of the cost is still 

 for investment and maintenance of trees that are expected to yield 

 greater returns later. Even when the tree is in its prime, and while 

 Ave may consider for practical purposes that all the cost is for the cur- 

 rent crop, still the orchardist is under the necessity of doing certain 

 things to maintain his investment. For instance, if any part of the 

 orchard does not bear any one year, the operator with future yields in 

 mind continues work on the orchard with some adjustments. A study 

 of the costs and management problems of fruit production, then, is a 

 problem involving the whole life cyc\e of the tree. Production of the 

 tree and production of apples cannot be logically divorced. Important 

 problems are missed entirely when the tree is considered as produced 

 at a given age. 



Comparison or study of operations on individual farms is most diffi- 

 cult on account of finding a common measure or unit of orchard. Any 

 comparison on the basis of total number of trees would be inaccurate 

 because the age of various orchards varies greatly. The tree of forty 

 years has more foliage, requires more material and more work in prun- 

 ing, spraying, fertilizing and harvesting than the fifteen-year old tree, 

 and of course, should yield more fruit. 



The acre unit has been employed in other regions, and no doubt is 

 very satisfactory for comparison in standardized orchard regions, es- 

 pecially in the irrigated regions where plantings are uniform and of 

 about the same age ; but in New England, it would lead to erroneous 

 conclusions. The number and age of trees per acre varies greatly. 

 Some orchards have been set with 108 or more, others with 54 and 

 some with 27. With relatively cheap land we need to get away. from 

 acre standards and comparisons. 



In some instances, comparison has been made by the unit of crop 

 produced ; but in dealing with a long-time crop, like apples, when 

 yields fluctuate greatly from year to year, this method is also inade- 

 quate. The costs of spraying, pruning, and fertilization are about the 

 same whether fruit is set or not. The yield indicates something of 

 the situation for that year, but has little value in making comparison 

 of labor efficiency. 



In order to compare different orchards more accurately two new 

 units of measurement were computed and are used in this study in 

 addition to the unit of actual yield. These units are: (1) "expected 

 normal yield," and (2) "mature tree equivalent" or "mature tree 

 unit." Operations in each orchard were corrected to these terms for 

 comparison, i 



iWhen computed on a basis of normal expected yield or actual yield in the 

 first part of this bulletin, no consideration is given to appreciation or de- 

 preciation of value of trees. 



