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business. The greater extent to which producers and distributors cooperate 

 in furnishing their opinions, the greater will be the scope, usefulness and 

 reliability of the resulting reports. 



Retail Market News. 

 The retail market reports published by the Division aim to help the 

 consumer buy food by informing her about quality, quantity and price. The 

 Boston report is sent to housewives, domestic science teachers and to the 

 market gardeners who receive the wholesale report. During the past year 

 Food Facts Bulletins were issued in conjunction with the Retail Report, 

 stressing particular features of crops or markets. The Division also co- 

 operated with the Massachusetts Federation of Women's Clubs, Depart- 

 ment of the American Home, in writing menus and timely recipes. In 

 Springfield the retail report, issued on Tuesdays and Fridays, is published 

 in three of the leading papers with a total circulation of over 120,000. The 

 Weekly Market Letter with notes on retail and wholesale market conditions, 

 appears in the Sunday papers. A sheet of suggestions of seasonable and 

 attractive menus and recipes, furnished by the Hampden County Improve- 

 ment League, appears with the weekly report. In Worcester retail prices 

 are collected twice a week and sent to a paper and broadcasted from Station 

 WTAG with news of interest to houswives, prepared by the Worcester County 

 Extension Service. 



Crop Reports. 



A continuance of our cooperative relations with the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture in the maintenance of the New England Crop Reporting 

 Service with headquarters at Wakefield, Mass., has made possible the 

 issuance of crop forecasts and reports on several principal commodities. 



During the past year the Service carried on the following lines of work: — 

 Assisted in the federal census of agriculture; completed and published a 

 survey of the acreage, flowage and production of cranberries in Massa- 

 chusetts; helped plan and conduct a survey of apple orchards, production and 

 marketing; tabulated records not previously so assembled as to numbers of 

 livestock in Massachusetts and Connecticut; made extensive inquiries as to 

 crop acreages and yields; further developed the monthly reports on dairy 

 production throughout New England, and obtained much wider dissemina- 

 tion of its many reports. 



The new federal census will help to provide the necessary fundamental 

 statistics of agriculture, while the survey of cranberries makes possible a much 

 more reliable reporting service for this crop than was possible before. With 

 the results of the apple survey growers throughout New England will be able 

 to extend their Orchards and production much more successfully and 

 profitably. They will know which varieties sell best, volume of demand, 

 volume of present and expected production, prices that may be expected for 

 different varieties. This information or comprehensive inventory of the 

 apple industry will enable the Crop Reporting Service to render a much more 

 useful current service to growers. 



Records as to numbers of livestock and milk production will directly assist 

 in stabilizing the dairy business and in preventing the wasteful periods of 

 excess production. The extensive acreage and crop yield inquiries were 

 very useful in providing reliable basis for estimating crop production, and the 

 greater study and use of the published reports by farmers help them towards 

 better balance of production Math demand. 



Roadside Markets. 



As in past seasons the Division of Markets has kept in touch with the 

 development of roadside markets in Massachusetts, making a brief survey 

 of those on four of the principal roads leading out of Boston, The number of 

 markets seems to have increased this year, while the amount of business done 

 by each stand has decreased with the added competition. The problem in 

 this type of marketing is to insure fresh fruit and vegetables at a reasonable 



