34 



BULLETIN 636, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



it costs slightly over 1 cent more per box for the mulch-crop than 

 for the clean-cultural orchards. This difference in cost is princi- 

 pally due to the greater fixed costs on the mulch-crop orchards. It 

 will be seen from Table XVI that the percentage of the various costs 

 which go to make up the total cost is nearly the same in both kinds 

 of records. 



Table XVI. — Summary of all costs for 38 farms in Payette Valley, Idaho. 





Clean-cultural manage- 

 ment ( 16 records : 336 

 boxes per record;. 



Mulch-crop manage- 

 ment (22 records: 338 

 boxes per record;. 



Combined manage- 

 ment (38 records: 337 

 boxes per record;. 



Item. 



Cost 

 per 

 acre. 



Cost 

 per 

 box. 



Per 

 cent 



of 

 total 



net 

 cost. 



Cost 

 per 

 acre. 



Cost 

 per 

 box. 



Per 

 cent 



of 

 total 



net 

 cost. 



Cost 



per 

 acre. 



Cost 

 per 

 box. 



Per 



cent 



of 



total 



net 

 cost. 



Total net cost of labor previous 



S44.73 



58.93 

 103. 66 

 72.16 

 60. 59 

 132. 75 

 236. 41 



121.35 

 115.06 



SO. 1331 



. 1754 

 .3085 

 .2148 

 .1803 

 .3951 

 .7036 



.3612 

 .3424 



1*92 



24.93 

 43.85 

 30. 53 

 25. 62 

 56. 15 

 100.00 



51.33 

 48.67 



S37. 26 



65.98 

 103.24 

 73. 55 

 65. 30 

 138. 85 

 242. 09 



119.41 

 122. 68 



SO. 1102 



. 1952 

 .3054 

 .2176 

 .1932 

 .4108 

 .7162 



.3532 

 .3630 



15.39 



27. 25 

 42 64 

 3038 

 26.98 

 57. 36 

 100.00 



49.32 

 50.68 



S40. 38 



63.02 

 103. 40 

 72.94 

 63.31 

 136. 25 

 239. 65 



120. 20 

 119.45 



SO. 1198 



.1870 

 .3068 

 .2164 

 .1879 

 .4043 

 .7111 



.3566 

 .3545 



16.84 



Total net cost of 1 abor for hand- 



26.30 



Total net cost of all labor 



43.14 

 30 43 





26.43 



Total material and fixed costs. . . 



56.86 

 100.00 



Total net cost on the tree 



Total net cost of handling a 



50.16 



49.84 



a Includes total net cost of labor for handling, cost of made-up boxes, and apple-building charge. 



If the material and fixed costs are combined, the cost of the clean- 

 cultural orchards is 56.15 per cent and of the mulch-crop 57.36 per 

 cent of the total annual net cost of production. It is thus apparent 

 that the cost of production varies but little under the two systems 

 of management. 



Seventy-one cents per box may be considered a fair figure for the 

 cost of production in Payette Valley under normal prices for labor 

 and material. 



FACTORS AFFECTING THE ANNUAL COST OF PRODUCTION. 



The principal factors which affect the cost are the same for Payette 

 Valley as for all other apple regions studied thus far. The one which 

 has the greatest effect upon the cost per box is the yield per acre. Table 

 XVII serves to show the cost of production per acre and per box. 

 Orchards having various yields are divided into 10 groups ranging 

 from 122 to 572 boxes per acre in yield. The maintenance cost is 

 found to remain practically the same per acre in the case of the high 

 yields as in the case of the low, but the maintenance cost per box 

 very materially decreases as the yield per acre increases. The hand- 

 ling and material box costs are little influenced by the yield, 

 while the fixed cost, although remaining much the same per acre, 



