Vol. LXXIII. No. 42G6. 
NEW YORK, AUGUST 1, 1914. 
WEEKLY $1.00 PER YEAR. 
COST OF APPLE PRODUCTION. 
Spraying and Labor. 
W ILL some of yoi r experts tell us the cost of 
growing an apple orchard to bearing age; cost 
of handling the crop and other figures regard¬ 
ing labor, tenant system, etc. We would like 
figures from various parts of the country if possible. 
i$. M. 
VARIATIONS IN COST.—Of course, your corre¬ 
spondent understands that the cost of apple produc¬ 
tion, including all the items of labor, as well as ma¬ 
terial costs, varies according to conditions. The 
chief factors influencing 
cost are: The efficiency 
of labor, the rate per 
hour, the size of the 
farm and the orchard, 
and the relationship of 
the orchard enterprise 
to other farm enter¬ 
prises, whether the or¬ 
chard is cultivated or 
kept in sod, the number 
of sprayings, the age 
and size of the trees, 
etc. With these varia¬ 
tions in cost in mind, 
I will give some actual 
figures of costs on one 
orchard. The inquirer 
must understand that 
these costs may not be 
his costs; they will sim¬ 
ply give him an idea of 
what these costs are 
likely to be under nor¬ 
mal conditions in a 
well-cared-for old orch¬ 
ard in Western New 
York. 
FIVE YEARS’ REC¬ 
ORDS.—Table on next 
page shows five years 
of very -accurate cost 
records on a six-acre 
apple orchard contain¬ 
ing 230 trees. Part of 
this orchard is 40 years 
old and the rest nearly 
GO. The varieties are: 
Baldwin, Tompkins 
County King, and Twen¬ 
ty-Ounce. Some prun¬ 
ing is done every year. 
The orchard is plowed 
and thoroughly culti¬ 
vated three years out of 
four. A cover crop of 
clover and buckwheat 
is used about every 
other year. It is usual¬ 
ly sprayed with a power 
sprayer three times dur¬ 
ing the season. About one-quarter of the orchard 
is manured each year. The labor costs are given in 
man and horse hours and fractions for each oper¬ 
ation. Man labor costs us 20 cents an hour, horse 
labor 15 cents an hour. 
In answer to your request for information as to 
the variation in yield and price of fruit over a pe¬ 
riod of years, I give you figures for 12 years on the 
above orchard in barrel yield per acre and prices 
per barrel. In the total price per barrel is included 
value of drop apples and culls. This is also given on 
the following page, with the other table referred to. 
CONTRACTS FOR RENTING.—The inquirer will 
readily understand that the terms of renting orch¬ 
ards must necessarily be based on the relationship 
of the orchard to the whole farm enterprise, and on 
the age, variety and condition of the trees. In my 
own case the orchards, which cover 25 acres in all, 
and which are of various ages, are a part of the 
general farm enterprise which totals 105 acres in 
area. After trying several less liberal leases, we 
have settled down on one which is quite satisfactory 
to both tenant and owner. In this lease the owner 
furnishes all the capital, including horses and ma¬ 
chinery. and one-luilf of the materials, such as 
spraying material and fertilizers. The tenant fur¬ 
nishes all the labor (except such part of the horse 
labor costs, as are due to interest, depreciation, one- 
lmlf the feed, etc.), and one-half of the cost of ma¬ 
terials. As you will note from the above figures, the 
total labor costs of producing apples amount to 
about one-half of the entire cost. This total labor 
cost, however, includes a part of the horse labor cost 
which the owner bears. This just about offsets the 
material costs contributed by the tenant. Assuming 
then that capital and labor are factors of approxi¬ 
mately equal importance in apple production, and 
that they should, therefore, receive the same returns, 
the above form of lease would seem to be a satisfac¬ 
tory one. In effect, this lease provides for the deduc¬ 
tion of all the expenses (including interest) from the 
returns from the orchard, and dividing the net profits 
equally. 
VALUE OF ORCHARDS.—There are three ways 
of determining the value of an orchard: (1) What 
it can be sold for. (2) What it cost to grow the or¬ 
chard. (3) The amount 
of money on which the 
orchard will return a 
fair rate of interest— 
six to 10 per cent. I do 
not believe that any one 
of these methods can 
be used exclusively; a 
combination of them 
must be employed. What 
the orchard can be sold 
for is really the best 
measure of its true 
worth, but if the buyer 
is a wise man he will 
base his offer for the or¬ 
chard on the probable 
returns from the orch¬ 
ard over its probable 
lifetime. If the seller 
is a wise man he will 
fix the selling price at 
least as high as the cost 
of the orchard. Some¬ 
where between these 
two factors the true 
value lies. Practically 
an apple orchard of 
good varieties, sound 
trees in their prime,' is 
worth not less than $300 
an acre, and may be 
worth as high as $800 
or possibly $1,000 an 
acre. In Western New 
York $500 an acre is a 
fair valuation for a 
good orchard. The or¬ 
chard on which the fig¬ 
ures are given above is 
valued at $275 an acre. 
Many of the trees are 
missing and about one- 
half of them have pass¬ 
ed their prime. 
SPRAYING MACHIN¬ 
ERY.—A 21/2 to a 3 y 2 
horse-power engine is, 
in my opinion, the best 
size for spraying. The 
smaller size is sufficient 
to give the power needed, but not sufficient to do 
many other kinds of farm work for which it is de¬ 
sirable to use an engine. Hence we use a 3% horse¬ 
power engine. The objection to this heavier engine 
is its weight, which sometimes makes it difficult to 
get on the land early in the Spring. This is more 
apt to be a difficulty in spraying peach orchards 
than apple orchards, however. Personally I like the 
"outside packed” style iff' pump, better than others. 
This is only a personal opinion, however, and not 
worth much at that, because I have not personally 
used the other kind. I think there is no doubt but 
