12 P.D. 123 



Statistical Information 

 Since 1923 the annual bulletin "Receipts and Sources of Boston Food 

 Supply" has been published and has been used by research workers and 

 students in marketing, teachers, housewives, farmers and various marketing 

 agencies or middlemen. The report is a summary of the receipts and 

 sources of the most important foodstuffs coming into Boston. 



Boston Wholesale and Retail Report 

 So many requests for information come to this office for the trend in 

 receipts of apples in Boston and also the range in prices over a period of 

 years that the Division of Markets summarized in detail such information. 

 There is, therefore, on file the number of bushels of apples received weekly 

 from the principal apple producing sections of the United States. This 

 information is sorted so that the volume that these specialized producing 

 sections ship is known and the time of year of such shipments. Many 

 requests are received from growers of vegetables for average prices of these 

 commodities and for the volume of weekly receipts. For the first time, 

 therefore, a summary of the weekly prices and weekly trucked-in receipts 

 of the major kinds of vegetables on the Boston market has been prepared. 

 The total volume of such products goes beyond 5,000,000 bushels and the 

 average value is over $4,000,000. 



Roadside Stand Sign 



In 1928 the Division of Markets made a careful analysis of roadside stand 

 selling which brought out clearly the standpoint of the consumer. Con- 

 sumers desire fresh products and wish to know which stands sell locally 

 grown products. 



Stand owners realizing the problem facing them also wanted some method 

 of identifying real farm-owned stands and asked the Department for assist- 

 ance. A plan was then prescribed to farm roadside market owners for their 

 consideration. 



This program was essential that they might lease a sign from the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, provided they lived up to certain regulations. These 

 regulations had to do with the origin of the products they sold, the appear- 

 ance of their stand, and the quantity of their goods. 



Fifty-five stand owners leased the sign for the season and have reported 

 that it was of value to them in selling their goods. 



The Department had three inspectors who visited all the stands at inter- 

 vals and not only cheeked up on the regulations, but gave suggestions to 

 stand owners which resulted in many improvements. 



Market Survey in Five Cities 



During the last half of 1931 several Massachusetts cities were studied 

 briefly in order to obtain a picture in each of the cities of the prevailing food 

 marketing conditions. 



With the exception of milk records kept by the city departments of health, 

 there are practically no available records of total amounts of foodstuffs 

 received or distributed in the cities surveyed. The city departments of 

 public welfare and health and outside social service agencies usually reported 

 the extent of donations for food to the needy, and representatives of these 

 organizations being in close contact with hundreds of consumers were able 

 to contribute much other information concerning consumption and buying 

 habits and the restrictions governing the use of grocery orders which are the 

 means commonly used in supplying food to the applicants. 



Wholesalers and retailers were the chief informants regarding current 

 practices in buying, selling, and distributing the bulk of the foodstuffs used 

 in supplying the individual cities. These men and women frequently re- 

 lated personal experiences in the market, often covering periods of twenty 

 years or more, and from them the investigator learned of the changes taking 

 place in the distributing customs of the city, trends in the demands of qual- 

 ity, package, etc., and of most importance, their opinions and reactions 



