COST OF PRODUCING APPLES WESTERN NEW YORK. 31 



There is considerable variation in the number of barrels picked 

 per day by both day and contract workers. (See Table XX.) Men 

 paid by the barrel pick between 3G and 40 barrels per day dur- 

 ing heavy crop years. With exceptionally large crops, some men 

 will pick as high as 50 to 60 barrels per day. The rate of picking 

 will vary to a great extent with size of crop and of trees, distance 

 trees are planted apart, mode of tree growth, and kind of ladders 

 and picking utensils which the picker is required to use. 



When apples are picked by the day, the picker carries his apples 

 to the sorting table, which is usually placed in a central position, 

 so that all pickers carry their fruit about the same distance. Often 

 when contract picking is done the barrels are placed near the trees 

 from which the fruit is picked. Apples are placed in these barrels 

 by the picker, who marks his barrels as they are filled or has his 

 tally card punched by the foreman. 



The average cost for picking by the day was $10.82 per acre (yield 

 84.4 barrels per acre) or 13 cents per barrel, while a contract picker 

 picked at a cost of $15.06 per acre (yield 84.9 barrels per acre) or 

 18 cents per barrel. The average cost, considering both methods of 

 picking, was $12.57 per acre, or 15 cents per barrel. All labor in 

 harvesting, except contract labor, is figured at 20 cents per hour. 

 The picking cost was about 33 per cent of the total net labor cost, 

 or 10 per cent of the total net cost of production. 



It will be seen (Table XIX) that in Ontario and Niagara Counties 

 the majority of growers visited picked their apples with day labor. 

 In Wayne County there is a tendency toward, day pickers, while in 

 Monroe and Orleans Counties the growers depend to a great extent 

 on contract pickers. 



SORTING AND PACKING. 



Sorting and packing are done in the orchard, barn, or packing 

 shed (see figs. 6 and 7). Practically all apples are sorted and packed 

 from a sorting table. The common sorting table is usually 8 feet 

 in length and 3 feet in width, inside measurement. Some growers 

 use a level table, from which all apples are hand sorted into baskets 

 and then packed in barrels. 



As soon as the apples are picked in one section of the orchard the 

 sorting table is moved to another. Many of the orchardists who 

 pack in the orchard make a practice of hauling a few apples into 

 a shed or barn, so that in case of unfavorable weather the packing 

 will not be delayed. 



Prior to the passage of the New York State packing law apples 

 were packed either " orchard run," " number ones," or " number 

 twos." " Orchard-run " apples took in all sizes of apples above a 

 minimum which might be stated by the buyer. " No. 1 " apples 



