COST OF PRODUCING APPLES IN WESTERN COLORADO. 



37 



PACKING COSTS. 



The largest item of labor connected with the harvesting of the apple 

 crop is tho packing-house cost, which includes the cost of sorting, 

 packing, nailing, waiting, and all other packing-house labor, including 

 the wages of a packing boss where one is used. 



As will be seen from Table XXIX, there is a very wide variation in 

 methods used. In Mesa County sizcrs are in common use. In 

 most instances these are merely hand sizers, and one man sizes 

 the apples and nails for the packers, though in some cases the labor 

 is distributed differently, according to the size of the packing crew. 

 In large crews it takes one man's time to wait on the packers and 

 one man's time to nail. 



Table XXIX. — Packing-house practices. 





Pack. 



Sort 

 and 

 pack. 



Nail and 

 wait. 



Grade 

 and nail. 



Grade. 



Hand 

 sort. 



Nail. 



County. 



o 



aj'd 



■3» 



3 



oo 



o 



rj — 



a ° 



1 5? 



•Sri 

 3 





S3 



o 

 '-'Hi 





"3 



^i2 



- f- 



3 £ 



■Srf 



CO o 



CP rt 



o 



|| 



I" 



•9^ 



P 



W O 



oo 

 M 



o 



oo 





38 

 4 

 2 



58 

 57 



47 



11 



57 

 13 



51 

 39 

 41 



16 



18 

 1 



179 

 173 

 100 



31 

 1 

 



174 



180 







3 

 1 



1 



212 

 250 

 177 



4 

 2 

 1 



100 

 153 



125 



2 



42 

 14 



?no 



Delta 



370 





?78 









44 



57 



81 



41 



35 



174 



32 



174 



5 



212 



7 



79 



58 



345 







In the figures for hand sorting, those for the separate counties are given 

 in loose boxes, while for the entire region they are given in packed 

 boxes. In figuring the cost per box, as shown in Table XXX, an 

 average cost is arrived at for each operation, using the percentage of 

 the 125 growers who practiced each operation, the average number 

 of boxes which constitutes a day's work, and a labor rate of $2.50 

 per day (the labor rate used hi calculating all packing-house opera- 

 tions) . In actual practice, packing is largely piecework, paid for at 

 the rate of from 4 to 6 cents per box, depending on the pack, the 

 size of fruit, and the scarcity or abundance of help. In order to make 

 the figures comparable, for many of the small growers do their own 

 packing with the aid of their wives and children, the regular day rate 

 for other packing-house labor is used, the result being practically the 

 same as when the rate for piecework is used. The miscellaneous 

 column includes all waiting not connected with nailing or other 

 regular operations, trucking, overseeing, and any incidental labor 

 about the packing house. In the farms studied the packing-house 

 labor charge is found to be $0,068 per box in Mesa, $0,073 per box 

 in Delta, and $0,079 per box in Montrose, or $0,072 per box as an 

 average for the region. 



