46 BULLETIN 518, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Culls. — Under " culls " are included all apples which do not meet 

 the standards required for box apples. The best of them are sold 

 for " cookers " in loose boxes or crates. The poorer grades are used 

 for making cider or they may be fed to the hogs. A cooperative 

 cider factory is operated in Hood River, the stockholders buying 

 stock amounting to $10 per acre for their bearing orchard land. The 

 grower then gets the privilege of selling all his cider apples to the 

 factory. Nonmembers receive the same price per ton as do members, 

 but are able to dispose of their fruit only when the demand exceeds 

 the supply offered by the members. In 1914 the price per ton for 

 cider apples was $6, but in prior years the price of cider apples had 

 usually been $8. Some cider apples are sold to Portland firms. 

 Windfalls and other inferior apples are taken to the cider mill. 

 Part of these are picked up on the ground and sacked in the orchard, 

 and part of them come from the packing shed, where they have been 

 handled by the sorters. Many orchardists do not pick up the fruit 

 which drops from the trees, but leave it on the ground and allow the 

 hogs to have it. 



The term i% cookers " is usually applied to those apples which have 

 some minor defect or blemish. They are " jumble " packed and 

 usually shipped to Portland. They average about 50 cents per box 

 f . o. b. Hood River. Some growers do not ship " cookers/' In this 

 study " cookers " were taken into account only when marketed. 



The average annual credit derived from culls, including u cookers," 

 on the 54 farms studied is $5.13 per acre, or a net credit of $4.06 

 above the labor of picking and hauling, which amounted to $1.07 

 per acre. This, it should be remembered, is only labor in excess of 

 that already included under harvesting and packing-house labor. 

 Where the apples are picked up in the orchard one man will sack 

 or pick up about 50 sacks per day. A man and team will haul about 2 

 tons of cider apples per load and 2 loads per day from the lower valley 

 to Hood Kiver, a distance usually of from 4 to 6 miles. The filled 

 sacks weigh about 70 pounds each. In marketing the cull fruit 

 which comes from the packing shed all the extra handling necessary 

 is the hauling. Hence there is greater profit in handling these than 

 in handling windfalls. 



TOTAL HANDLING COSTS. 



The total of all harvesting-labor cost for the 54 farms, allowing 

 no credit for culls, is $49.14 per acre, or $0,221 per box. Deducting 

 the net value of the culls there is a net labor cost of $45.08 per acre, 

 or $0,203 per box. This is 53.01 per cent of all labor costs and 19.86 

 per cent of the total cost of production. If the labor cost of handling 

 is added to the material and fixed cost connected with handling, 

 which includes made-up boxes, paper, nails, and the annual packing- 



