Cost of Production 365 



TABLE XVII. EFFECT OF SIZE OF ORCHARD ON COST A Box 



creases, which is due to the yield decreasing as the size of 

 the orchard increases. It is obvious, however, that with 

 the same yield to the acre in the larger orchards, the cost 

 a box would be very much less. 



In this connection it should be stated that in certain sec- 

 tions the economic unit of orchards which can safely be 

 managed is much larger, but in every district there is an 

 economic unit beyond which nine growers out of ten do 

 not make as great a success as the small grower. From 

 investigations in western New York, the economic unit 

 would seem to be from fifteen to twenty acres when the 

 orchard is connected with diversified farming. There are 

 many successful and very progressive growers operating 

 large acreages, but these are specialists as a rule. Theo- 

 retically, the larger the orchard the larger the profit, but 

 this does not always work out in practice. Many growers 

 have failed in the apple business because they have figured 

 that a large acreage fairly well cared for would produce 

 more apples and yield more profit than a smaller acreage 

 more intensively looked after and yielding larger annual 

 crops. The most profitable sized orchard, from the stand- 

 point of cost of production, will vary widely in different 

 regions. It is probably the smallest in the irrigated sec- 

 tions of the Northwest and the largest in such regions as 



