20 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 389 



The cause of variation in the average area price can be gleaned from table 13. 

 The number of dealers operating in each of the areas varied and their product-costs 

 differed noticeablv — differences due mostlv to variations in utilization. 



Table 13. — Average Prices F. O. B. Market for 3.7 Percent Grade B Milk 

 Paid by Dealers in Three Selected Areas of the Springfield-Holyoke- 

 Chicopee Milkshed in 1935. 



Mean of prices paid 

 Dealer for 3.7 percent milk. Number of 



per hundredweight producers 



Area 2 



79 $2.23 11 



52 2.50 13 



70 2 . 64 5 



67 2.81 35 



60 2 . 86 3 



61 3.24 1 

 78 3,26 5 

 59 3.26 2 



75 



Area 6 



03 2.49 10 



70 » 2.64 8 



67 2.86 47 



64 2 . 95 3 



57 3.25 3 



71 



Area 12 



03 2.44 7 



70 2,54 15 



25 2.83 9 



31 



No definite relationship existed between area prices and physical factors. The 

 dealers in the market who had the larger volume of business almost of necessity 

 had to operate throughout the entire shed to secure their supplies. If they were 

 not subject to that necessity then they had over-all operations because of other 

 advantages. Regardless of the cause, the net result was the same. Each sub- 

 division of the milkshed, i.e., area, represented the results of the particular com- 

 bination in which the dealers were associated. Apparently distributors paying 

 the higher price took their choice of shippers and their associates successively 

 moved in according to the price that could be paid. 



Further light on the geographical relationships between prices may be had 

 from the data in table 14. The average price received by the shippers of each 



