26 



BULLETIN 1455, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



but part of them are influences over which he has little or no control. 

 The causes beyond the control of the individual grower are changes in 

 the price level of the different cost factors and changes in yields 

 and costs owing to climatic conditions. Cost variations coming 

 under the control of the operator are those influenced by different 

 methods of orchard management. Among the 48 orchards the wide 

 variations in costs may be at least partly ascribed to different methods 

 of soil and tree management. 



Prices of the various items going into the production of apples 

 increased steadily during the period of this study until some had 

 more than trebled by 1920. The increase in prices is illustrated 

 in the changes in preharvest farm costs, which varied from $3,954 

 in 1916 to $6,372 in 1920, and again in the harvesting costs, which 

 were $2,557 for a 3,331-barrel crop in 1916 and $6,182 for a 3,507- 

 barrel crop in 1920. (Fig. 7.) 



Preharvest and Harvest Costs and production per farm 

 5-year period, 1916-1920 



Average for 48 Orchards, Frederick County, Virginia 



THOUSANDS 















/ 

 / 



.Preharvest Cost 



r - 







/ 



/ 

 / 

 • 



s 



/ 



Harvest C 



fV 



*<x 



• 





/ / 



> 



"S 



A" 



"-<. 



**>». 



% 



* 











THOUSANDS 



6 

 5 



3 



2 



1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 



Fig. 7. — Aside from variations in prices of cost factors, preharvest costs per farm remain fairly 

 constant from year to year. Harvesting costs, however, vary rather directly in proportion 

 to variations in yields 



Total costs per farm increased for the five-year period, but for 

 the different years the cost per farm varied a great deal because of 

 differences in annual yield and of harvesting costs. Harvesting 

 costs in normal times are about the same in amount as preharvest 

 costs, but in years of low yields or high yields the corresponding 

 changes in the total harvesting costs cause considerable difference 

 in the total farm expenditures for production. Thus with a 1,340- 

 barrel yield in 1917 the net cost per farm was $3,283, whereas with 

 a 3,331-barrel yield in 1916 the net cost per farm was $5,120, not- 

 withstanding the fact that the prices of the cost factors in 1917 

 had increased over those of 1916. 



COST VARIATIONS CAUSED BY DIFFERENCES IN ORCHARD MANAGEMENT 



In Figure 8 variations in costs per barrel are shown. The five- 

 year average costs for these farms ranged from $1.64 to $5.66 per 

 barrel. 



