ator is persistent in getting back to 

 these cows at the end of three min- 

 utes of milking and does a thorough 

 job of machine stripping for one 

 minute, some of these cows will re- 

 spond with satisfactory letdown. 



One herd, where the records indi- 

 cate that machines were left on half 

 the cows over eight minutes, was 

 subjected to the following experi- 

 ment. 



Arrangements were made for the 

 operator to do a thorough job of 

 preparing and getting back to the 

 cows at the end of three minutes to 

 machine strip. Machines were taken 

 off in all cases at the end of four 

 minutes. All cows were hand strip- 

 ped and the strippings were weighed. 

 Twenty out of 28 cows had less than 

 one pound of strippings. The cows 

 were rearranged so that these 20 

 cows were milked first. The next 

 day these cows were milked out by 

 machine in four minutes. The ma- 

 chines were left on the other eight 

 cows for five minutes and the strip- 

 pings weighed. Three cows were 

 definite problem cows and because 

 of age and unsound udders probably 

 would not respond to treatment. 



Many records taken of the rate of 

 milk flow at half-minute intervals 

 indicate a great variation. One cow 

 with production of 27.6 pounds at 

 one milking gave 6.8 pounds at half- 

 minute intervals. At the other ex- 

 treme, one cow with production of 

 21.2 pounds of milk at one milking 

 did not exceed two pounds in any 

 half-minute interval. 



H. C. WooDwoRTH, K. S. Morrow, 

 AND E. M. Elliott 



A Study of Milk Marketing Prob- 

 lems in Small Towns. The market 

 supply of milk for six small towns 

 in New Hampshire is being studied 

 in some detail. The majority of the 

 towns selected for study are deficit in 

 terms of local supplies and demand, 

 particularly in the holiday seasons. 



This condition has raised questions 

 of capacity of local dealers and of 

 their ability to carry the risk of 

 fluctuating demands as compared 

 with larger dealers who supply a 

 more varied market. 



Investigations have shown a con- 

 siderable cross hauling of milk sup- 

 plies and deliveries of small amounts 

 by larger dealers from distant points 

 which could be more economically 

 consolidated with one consignment. 



In most areas there has been a 

 significant decline in the number of 

 small producer-distributors with a 

 consequent increase in the amount 

 handled by dealers. There are vari- 

 ous reasons for this decline, includ- 

 ing retirement, delivery to dealers, 

 working in industry, switch to poul- 

 try farming, disease in herd, and 

 others. 



The study emphasizes spatial re- 

 lationships between consumers and 

 producers and the influence of com- 

 petitive bidding for supplies on dis- 

 tribution efficiency. 



J. R. BOV^^RING 



J. C. Holmes 



Opportunities on Idle Farm Land. 

 This project was started in April 

 1948 in response to concern, on the 

 part of farmers and others interested 

 in New Hampshire agriculture, that 

 some good farm land as well as 

 bad was lying idle and growing up 

 to brush. The study, so far, has 

 covered 20 towns, including at least 

 one in every county of the state. 

 Some description of the idle farm 

 land has been obtained in all 20 

 towns. It should be stressed here 

 that we are referring only to idle 

 land believed by informed local 

 people to be as good as other land 

 which is being successfully farmed. 

 In three of the towns we have also 

 interviewed both the owners of the 

 idle land, to learn their attitudes 

 toward having their land used, and 

 the active farmers to discover their 



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