No, 123.] REPORT OF COMMISSIONER. 17 



Operating under a system which insures the receipt of our 

 reports only by those who are financially or especially inter- 

 ested, our reporting service is apparently on a sound basis. 

 Although an extension comparable with our facilities has been 

 made in the work this year, the field is hardly yet entered. 

 There is an urgent need for point of production reporting, full 

 and complete market information adaptable to consumers' 

 needs, and the development of our system of dissemination 

 by such agencies as daily newspapers and local organizations. 

 Letters from organizations and individuals requesting a con- 

 tinuance of the market reporting in Worcester and Springfield 

 have evidenced the service which the reports render, so un- 

 questionably as to warrant the statement that reports of this 

 nature are indispensable to the farmers wdio market locally. 

 It may be well to add that the constructive suggestions and 

 criticisms contained in these letters have aided greatly in 

 gauging the trend of demand for this type of work. 



Although our Boston farmers' produce market report reaches 

 a mailing list of approximately four hundred of those to whom 

 it is particularly valuable, yet there is still a field in Boston as 

 well as other large cities of our State for the dissemination of 

 valuable market information particularly adapted to the con- 

 sumers' needs. Work of this nature has been started this year, 

 but because of lack of funds has not been extended to its 

 greatest possibilities. 



Production and progress reports are necessary to the market- 

 ing plan of any business and especially to that of the farmer, 

 whose products are subject to unusually sharp and rapid 

 price fluctuations. Trade organizations function in the furnish- 

 ing of information to their constituents. The United States 

 Bureau of Crop Estimates has served in this capacity for our 

 farmers. Evidence of the value of its reports and of their 

 future possibilities is constantly before us. Because of the unity 

 of New England geographically, and with respect to our agri- 

 cultural problems, the time seems opportune to render support 

 to a co-operative New England crop-reporting system. 



