68 N. H. Agricultural Experiment Station [Bulletin 257 



of 1927, the requirements were 320 hours per 1,000 boxes as compared 

 to 380 for the other two years. 



Farm 8 was hit with hail in 1926, and the crop was small. The next 

 year the crop was heavy and the apples were large in size. The labor 

 requirement dropped from 510 hours to 270 hours per 1,000 boxes. 

 Farm 2 hired from 15 to 25 men, mostly transients, for picking. One 

 of the regular crew was used as a picking foreman and did very little 

 picking himself. There was no particular check on the individual 

 pickers. More emphasis was put on careful handling of fruit than 

 on amount picked. 



The apples were hauled to the storage barn by means of an old truck. 

 About 16 boxes could be loaded from the ground. The young man 

 who ran this made regular trips, hauling out empty boxes to the or- 

 chard and hauling in 16 boxes of apples at the rate of about four trips 

 per hour. An average of approximately 390 hours was required in 

 harvesting 1,000 boxes. 



In the case of Farm 1 the crew consisted of the farm operator and 

 six to seven men working together. The apples were dumped in bar- 

 rels, which were set on a low platform wagon, when full, by whichever 

 two men were handiest. When a load was ready one man drove to 

 the barn platform and rolled the barrels off alone. On this farm, the 

 average was 289 hours per 1,000 boxes. 



Farm 7 hired pickers by paying 8c per field box. The field fore- 

 man did practically no picking but helped with the loading. In haul- 

 ing on this farm, a Ford truck was used most of the time. Two men 

 were required to load and unload, one being on the truck. Even for 

 short distances, the boxes were tied in. 



It will be recalled that approximately 336 man hours were required 

 to produce 1,000 boxes of apples up to harvest. With harvesting 

 added, the average requirement was about 694 man hours per 1,000 

 boxes at the barn. 



On some of the farms, picking and hauling were so combined that 

 the horse hours in hauling cannot be used for comparison. Sometimes 

 the horses were taken to the field in the morning and left to eat grass 

 till a load of apples was hauled to the barn. In other cases, the apples 

 were sold in the orchard. In other instances, certain apples were 

 hauled to the co-operative packing plant direct from the orchard. 



With the assumed rate of pay the average cost of harvesting apples 

 was $157 per 1,000 boxes ; the range was from $127 to $198. 



This does not include expense of containers. Some had special 

 picking boxes, and some used regular apple boxes with the expectation 

 of using them later for the market. 



When the work of individual men was checked in the field, great dif- 

 ferences were apparent. One man on Farm 2 could pick apples about 

 twice as fast as other men. It was noticed that when approaching a 

 tree to pick, he made a decision as to exactly where his ladder was to 

 go. He handled the ladder with considerable dexterity and was usu- 

 ally picking apples with both hands on the way up the ladder. He 

 frequently picked half a bushel before the others had placed their 

 ladders and started picking. No doubt the work of picking might be 



