July, 1926] Apple Industry in New Hampshire 25 



matter of fact, they should more correctly be classified as "ungraded, 

 culls out''. Each schedule was therefore carefully examined and the 

 grading of the apples studied in relation to the orchard practice, par- 

 ticularly the spraying. In some cases where the evidence appeared 

 clear, ai)i)les rei^orted as A grade were changed to the ungraded class, 

 and in other cases where the information did not appear to be consis- 

 tent the records were discarded. Records of grade and price which ap- 

 pear reasonably dependable were thus obtained for about 134,000 barrels 

 of Baldwins, approximately 17,000 barrels of Mcintosh, 4,000 to 

 5,000 each of Wealthy and Gravenstein and about 1,600 of 

 Northern Spy. 



The most striking fact which these data show is that a very large 

 proportion of the croj) is sold unclassified in mixed grades. In order 

 to bring out this comparison more clearly a classification of the sales 

 on the basis of whether or not they have been graded is given in Table 

 9. More than half of all (lie api)les in the state apparently are sold on 

 an unclassified basis, the projiortion bcMng somewhat smaller with 

 Wealthy and Mcintosh and highest with Northern Spy. In the prin- 

 cipal variety, Baldwin, we note that of those sold in barrels, which is 

 approximately two-thirds of the crop, about 54 per cent are sold un- 

 graded, and of those sold in boxes about 65 per cent. The fact that 

 the i)roi)ortion of ungraded api)les is higher in the box than the barrel 

 packs may be due in part to the practice of .selling to peddlers, buyers 

 for chain stores who take "everyiliiim. down to 2^/4 inches", or other 

 country buyers who i)refer the api)les in boxes. Selling to buyers who 

 furnish their own boxes is prevalent in southern New Hampshire. 



Many growers rai.se the question as to whether or not it pays to 

 sort lli(> apples into two or three grades besides the culls, and even 

 some m(>u who gi\(> tlu^r orchards (excellent care claim that it does not 

 pay them to do so. In Table 9 on page 32 there is given the price per bar- 

 rel for graded and ungraded stock of each variety both when packed in bar- 

 rels and when packed in lioxes. The price given is the weighted average net 

 pri(;e for all grades. Fancy A and B sold seijaratel.y, as compared to the 

 receii)ts for ungraded in which the three grades are sold in the same 

 barrel or box. In order to have more ready comparison, the price of 

 I lie box-parked fruit is also expressed on the barrel basis, three boxes 

 being considered eqviivalent to one barrel. It is clear that without excep- 

 tion the graded fruit brings more money. In the case of Baldwins 

 there is a margin of 62<' on the barrel-packed fruit and of slightly over 

 $2.00 on the box-packed. In Mcintosh it is approximately $1.80 on the 

 barrel stock and $2.15 on the boxes. The smallest difference appears in 

 the case of the Wealthy-, in which the ungraded stock sells for only 28^' 

 ]ier barrel less than the graded; but there is a difference of about $1.50 

 on the box basis. 



Tli(- margin in many instances is not large, and there has been a 

 jiossible increased cost of Uvj- for the grading. Nevertheless, a small 

 increase in price ma>' form a relatively' large proportion of the net 



