28 



BULLETIN 1455, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



because of lack of attention to the proper amount of labor and equip- 

 ment necessary to take good care of the orchard. Although the 

 cost per barrel was low, the total profits were low because of low 

 production. Under such conditions it is likely that over a long 

 period of time lack of proper attention to the orchard would result 

 in a decreased valuation of the orchard and finally in high costs 

 per barrel of product. In most cases, however, an improper balance 

 in the factors of production results in a higher- than-aver age cost 

 rather than lower-than-average cost. 



range of net returns per barrel to 48 orchardists 

 Near Winchester, Virginia 



1916-1920 and 5-Year Average 



DOLLARS 

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1916 



1917 



1918 



1919 



1920 



5-YR. AV. 



Fig. 9.— During the five years of the study net returns varied on individual farms from a loss of 

 about $7 to a profit of more than $5 per barrel 



The relation of costs to net returns per barrel are shown in Table 

 23. In 1920 the average grower failed by 19 cents to reach the 

 cost-of-production line, whereas in 1918 the net returns per barrel 

 were $1.32 above the cost of production. The average net selling 

 price for the five years was $3.65 per barrel. In Figure 9 is shown the 

 variation in net returns per barrel of apples by years. The five- 

 year average net returns per barrel varied on these different farms 

 from - $2.37 to $1.83. Fifteen orchard farms failed to receive cost of 

 production and 11 orchard farms showed a return above costs of 

 more than $1 per barrel. 



Some of the orchardists drew so heavily upon their cash resources 

 to develop new orchards that they were forced to neglect temporarily 



