APPLE MARKET INVESTIGATIONS, 1914-15. 3 
market. Combined with the prospects for a very large crop of apples 
these business conditions created directly or indirectly by the war 
caused a depression in opening values; but really, as may be shown 
later, this depression may have been very beneficial for the reason 
that the market opened on a low level, thereby creating an unusual 
consumptive demand for the fall and winter months. 
The results of the investigations that preceded the movement of the 
crop were published in the Agricultural Outlook of September 16.! 
In that connection, practical suggestions were made for the proper 
handling of the crop, including a general forecast of market prospects. 
CONDITIONS IN THE NEW YORK STATE ORCHARD DISTRICT. 
One of the investigators visited the orchard district of New York 
State. This section had suffered from excessive rains, with the result 
that the Greening crop had been badly damaged by a fungus and it 
was feared that the Baldwin crop would suffer hkewise. Speculators 
and operators were paying the farmers at this time for such varieties 
as Greening, Baldwin, Spy, etc., $1.35 to $1.50 per barrel f. o. b. 
loading station. This was for New York A grade (24-inch minimum) 
fruit, packed and branded in compliance with the New York State 
law. The B grade (2 to 24 inch minimum) of these same varieties 
were bringing $1 to $1.25 f. o. b. loading station. For King, farmers 
were receiving $1.75 to $2 per barrel for A grade fruit, and $1.50 for 
B grade. These prices were for barreled apples f. 0. b. cars or de- 
livered to the storage houses. 
The following estimates were given as the expense incurred in 
picking, grading, packing, and marketing a barrel of apples: The 
standard apple barrels cost 40 cents each; pickers received 15 cents 
per barrel of loose, unpressed, ungraded fruit. It cost 10 cents per 
barrel, piecework, for grading and packing, and 5 to 10 cents for 
hauling from the orchard to the loading station or storage warehouses, 
the total expense being 70 to 75 cents per barrel.? 
As a result of the defects caused by rainy weather and also because 
of the grower’s fear of not being able to pack according to the New 
York law, large quantities of fruit were being sold to buyers who 
shipped it in bulk to the consuming markets. Growers were being 
paid 50 cents per hundredweight for this fruit delivered on the car. 
Most of the buyers specified that the fruit be 2 inches minimum in 
transverse diameter. Many cars, however, contained ungraded fruit, 
and much worthless stock was sent to market. The marketing of 
fruit in this manner would have been thoroughly good business had 
the inferior portion been left at home. In many cases such stock 
1 Farmers’ Bulletin No. 620, pp. 15-16. 
2 Bulletin 130, U. S. Department of Agriculture ‘‘ Operating costs of a New York apple orchard,” gives 
comprehensive information regarding the cost of preparing barreled apples for market. 
