Commercial Cucumber Growing. 



Commercial cucumber pickle growing would seem to fit very well into 

 the economy of a limited number of rural families in New Hampshire. Only 

 a small acreage is needed to afford employment for about six weeks in the 

 harvest period. No specialized equipment nor large investment is required. 

 A market for the crop is guaranteed at definite prices. Does this intensive 

 crop which requires considerable hand labor in harvesting offer an oppor- 

 tunity to families, who have an acre of good tillage land, who have avail- 

 able underemployed family labor, and who need additional income? 



Observations indicate that many growers did not adequately prepare the 

 field for this intensive crop. Consequently the yields were low and the in- 

 come unsatisfactory. Some fields were abandoned before or during harvest. 

 Individuals or groups of growers could well consider making special arrange- 

 ments to hire the land plowed, fertilized, fitted, and perhaps cultivated twice 

 in order to obtain better yields. In fact, the new crop will be given a better 

 trial if the processing company would employ a field man to work with the 

 growers and help them develop the practices essential to obtain good yields. 



In the study special emphasis was placed on efficiency of harvesting. 

 In 1950 and 1951 experimental plots were laid out on productive fields to 

 test the results obtained from different frequencies of picking. In both years 

 daily picking resulted in greater value of cucumbers per acre, but less value 

 per man hours of picking. The following table summarizes the frequency of 

 picking experiment in 1951. 



Man minutes Total value Total value cucumbers 



Picking frequency per plot per plot picked per man hour 



6 times a week 89.2 $2.15 $1.44 



3 times a week 55.4 2.04 2.20 



2 times a week 42.4 1.71 2.42 



1.4 times a week 36.9 1.54 2.50 



When the expenses up tc harvest are included, the data indicate that 

 picking two to three times each week made the most adequate use of resources. 



H. C. Woodworth 



Marketing Poultry Meat. 



Broiler production in New Hampshire has increased from the part- 

 time enterprise it was 15 years ago to the million-dollar industry it is today. 

 In 1951 New Hampshire commercial producers sold over 18 million pounds 

 of broilers valued at over 5 million dollars when they left the farms. In addi- 

 tion the important by-product of egg production, fowl, contributed 7% mil- 

 lion dollars to farm income and 25 millions of pounds of poultry meat to 

 consumers. 



The use of poultry meat in families has also increased greatly. In 1935 

 each person consumed 18 pounds. Today this per capita consumption has ad- 

 vanced to 30 pounds each year, an increase of two thirds. 



The movement of these large quantities of poultry from producers to 

 consumers is the problem of this study. A description of the present methods 

 of marketing in the state was made first. But this provides only a point of 

 departure. To be purposive and to make a contribution to progress, research 



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