FORMAL DAY S WORK IN WESTERN NEW YORK. 
15 
In Table XXIX is shown the number of bushels of peaches that 
one man can pick daily where the yield per tree varies. The better 
the crop per tree the more it is possible to pick daily. In making 
these reports farmers reported those yields per tree regarding which 
they had the best record as to the efficiency of the picking. The 
larger yields are most readily reported because the most unusual. 
The yields per tree, therefore, should not be taken as representing 
the average yield of peaches. Two or 3 bushels per tree is the most 
common yield. 
Table XXIX. — A fair day's work for one man in picking peaches from trees of average 
size, according to yield per tree. 
Yield 
Bushels 
Number 
per tree 
picked 
aver- 
(bushels). 
per day. 
aged. 
1 
22.2 
17 
2 
33.6 
101 
3 
34.7 
99 
4 
38.3 
50 
5 
39.8 
50 
8 
45.9 
13 
10 
54.3 
7 
From Table XXX it appears that about the same number of peaches 
can be handled daily by one man packing into baskets as can be 
picked from the tree. In general, the smaller the basket, the less 
the quantity that can be packed in a day. The J-bushel basket is 
most commonly used. Mechanical graders for sorting peaches were 
almost unknown in this area at the time these data were collected. 
The work covered by the tables, therefore, refers to methods which 
are entirely manual. 
Table XXX. — A fair day's work for one man in packing peaches in baskets. 
Size of 
basket 
(bushels). 
Number of 
baskets 
daily. 
Average 
bushels 
daily. 
Number 
averaged. 
1 
1* 
88.2 
97.7 
79.5 
57.6 
22.1 
32.6 
39.7 
57.6 
17 
266 
44 
15 
Table XXXI gives the daily duty of one man in picking apples. 
The larger the yield, the greater the quantity that can be picked in 
a day. Apples can be picked somewhat more rapidly than peaches. 
In good years pickers prefer to be paid by the bushel or barrel and 
work more rapidly than when paid by the day. Under average con- 
ditions in this territory the yield of apples is from 4 to 6 bushels per 
tree, and the average picker gathers from 20 to 25 barrels daily. 
