28 New Hampshire Experiment Station [Bulletin 223 



buyers who brought their own boxes. This may ha\'e had an influence on 

 the price. Tliere were also a number of large sales of apples packed in 

 boxes made early in the season of 1924 to chain stores, at a price rather 

 under that which ])re\'ailed a little later in the season. 



Wliile the data would appear to indicate that more was received for 

 the applies in boxes, the conclusion that the box is a better package 

 should not be reached without due caution. Aside from the instances 

 mentioned, it is only the relatively up-to-date fruit growers who are 

 using the box to any great extent. About 100 per cent of those small 

 scale fruit growers who care for their trees indifferently use the barrel. 

 It is likely that the apples mai'keted in barrels were not as good on the 

 a\-erage as those packed in boxes. Also in many cases the boxed apples 

 were layer-packed involving extra expense for which there has to be a 

 greater return. While the box meets with great favor in the locality 

 of Boston, apples sold in other centers or distributed from Boston to 

 outside cities, frequently are sold more readily in barrels than in boxes. 



The i)rices of each grade of ai)i)les i^er barrel and ]ier unit box are 

 shown in detail in Table 10. As may be noted by referring to Table 

 8, only a very small proportion of the crop is sold under the Fancy 

 grade. The number of sales upon whicli the Fancy grade prices are 

 based is so small that the figures can by no means be assumed to be 

 accurate. It is by far more usual to combine the A grade and the 

 Fancy in one i)ack, and prices recorded for A grade mean for all jirac- 

 tical purposes a mixture of these two in different proportions accord- 

 ing to the individual pack. The a\'crage prices for the different 

 classifications of Northern Spy apples are also based upon very 

 small munbers. The price of $4.16 per barrel for B grade Spies is 

 based upon only five sales and cannot be considered representative 

 of what this grade would ordinarily brmg. Perhaps the most striking 

 lesson to be gained from this table is the difference in price between A 

 grade and the lower grades of fruit, either B grade fruit, or ungraded. 

 The difference for this crop is certainly no larger than would ordinarily 

 be the case; for many growers who received low prices for B grades 

 in tlie 1923 croj) packed A grade down to 2^4, inch and turned the B 

 grade into cider. This practice would reduce somewhat the price of 

 A grade fruits. It is also safe to assume that only the best B grade 

 apjjles were sent to mjuket in 1924. 



If again one will take into account the matter of costs of production, 

 it apjjears that for the most part there is little or no jirofit in the 

 15 grade fruit particularly with Baldwins, although the margin in A 

 grade stock is sufficient to make a good labor income for the man who 

 is operating an orchard of sufficient size. It should be explained 

 that the estimated cost of production which has been mentioned covers 

 not only overhead and supplies I)ut also labor. Therefore, the farmer 

 who is ])roducing 2,000 barrels of aiiples has a very fair income^ in ad- 

 dition to his day wages provided that a large i)roportion of the fruit 

 grades A or better. 



