52 



BULLETIN 518, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTUEE. 



The handling and material costs per acre are the costs most ajOFected 

 by yield, but the box cost is little affected by these items. The main- 

 tenance cost is also affected by the yield. Yield is no doubt influ- 

 enced in turn by the maintenance cost. The fixed cost per acre, how- 

 ever, remains practically the same for all yields. On this account 

 the fixed cost per box on low yields is very much higher than where 

 the yield is large, Thus with an increased yield the material and 

 handling cost per box is not much reduced, but the fixed cost per box 

 is very materially reduced, and to a lesser extent the maintenance 

 cost. It is thus obvious that the higher the yield the less the cost per 

 box, and that this reduced cost per box comes principally from de- 

 crease in the fixed charge per box. 



The relation of size of orchard to annual cost of production is 

 shown in Table XXIII. The slight increase in cost per box as the 

 size of the orchard increases is due principally to decreased yield, 

 for the yield per acre decreases as the size of orchard increases. 



Table XXIII. — Relation of si 



ze of orchards to total cost (SJf farms) 





Cost of production in orchards of each specified size. 





5 acres and un- 

 der (280-box 

 yield, 4 rec- 

 ords). 



6 to 10 acres 



(228-box yield, 



25 records). 



11 to 20 acres 



(211-box yield, 



19 records). 



Over 20 acres 



(196-box yield, 



6 records). 





Per 

 acre. 



Per 

 box. 



Per 

 acre. 



Per 

 box. 



Per 

 acre. 



Per 

 box. 



Per 

 acre. 



Per 

 box. 



MaLnlenance . . 



S63. 26 

 56.14 



$0. 2252 

 .1999 



$40. 38 

 47.03 



$0. 1773 

 .2066 



$35. 77 

 42.89 



$0. 1695 

 .2033 



$36. 13 

 36.67 



$0. 1839 





.1866 







Labor cost ... . 



119.40 



.4251 



87.41 



.3839 



78.66 



.3728 



72.80 



.3705 







Material cost 



53.94 

 102. 36 



.1920 

 .3644 



43.60 

 98.27 



.1915 

 .4316 



41.15 

 100. 92 



. 1950 



.4783 



37.68 

 94.68 



.1918 



Fixed cost 



.4818 









156. 30 



. 5564 



141.87 



.6231 



142.07 



.6733 



132.36 



.6736 







Total cost 



275. 70 



.9815 



229.28 



1. 0070 



220. 73 



1. 0461 



205. 16 



1.0441 







From the results on the orchards studied it is evident that with 

 a yield per acre as large as is the rule with the smaller orchards the 

 larger orchards would show a marked decrease in the cost of produc- 

 tion. In other words, with the yields the same in all cases the larger 

 the acreage the less the cost per box. But as conditions exist in Hood 

 Eiver Valley, with the low yields on the larger acreages, the cost is 

 not greatly affected by the size of orchard. 



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