A Fertility Program for Celery Production


 Detailed cost data for previous seasons are not available, but
since with expanding future acreage there is little likelihood
that the cost per acre will go up, the data in this table will be
used in making cost comparisons in this bulletin.
 Since this experimental work has consisted of comparisons
between several different fertilizer treatments, the cost of fer-
tilizer per acre as reported in Table 1 ($34.77) will be subtracted
and the actual fertilizer costs of the various treatments sub-
stituted. The cost of fertilizing the plants in the seedbeds
has been considered as a constant item for all treatments, and
for this reason, this cost item ($0.86) will not be subtracted
as are the other fertilizer costs. Also, to arrive at a base figure
which will represent the total cash outlay of the grower, all
costs of marketing after delivery to the packinghouse will be
omitted. This basic cost figure is, therefore, $159.55, to which
must be added the cost of the fertilizer.
 Actually, since the number of crates per acre influences the
cost of harvesting and hauling somewhat, this basic figure is
probably slightly high for poor yields and slightly low for high
yields. For the purpose of comparison in this bulletin, how-
ever, it will be considered constant.
 Table 2 is a very simple table devised and included principally
for convenience in reference. This table shows the influence
of two factors, yield of celery and cost per acre (including fer-
tilizer), upon the actual cost to the grower of each field-trimmed
crate of celery produced. It should be understood that these
costs cover the celery to the point where it has been stripped
in the field, and the cost per crate refers to the cost per
70-pound field crate only. All yield data mentioned in this
bulletin will be given in terms of field-trimmed crates. Addi-
tional trimming at the packinghouse will cause about a 20%C
shrinkage in the total number of crates as listed in this table
and referred to in other parts of this bulletin. Costs of washing,
grading, pre-cooling and packing, broker's commission, crates and
shipping, are not included in Table 2. These costs need not be
included, inasmuch as they are taken out of the gross return
before the grower is paid for his produce. The check which
the grower finally receives for his produce represents his total
return, which must more than cover all costs incurred up to
delivery of the crop to the packinghouse, if a net profit is to
be made. For example, assume that the grower sent one acre's
yield of 500 crates of celery to the packinghouse, and received