travel distances, stops, and quantities likely to be involved on delivery 

 routes. This section and those following will treat these points. 



Data to illustrate these criteria should be for small areas (towns and 

 subdivisions and individual farms) but for the most part they are not 

 available in this form. For detailed locational analyses, census data by 

 towns, supplemented by information on individual units such as was ob- 

 tained in the Gilmanton-Barnstead area*, would be desirable, and should 

 form an important part of the background material. Deviations from the 

 county patterns inherent in Tables 1-3 are likely to be widespread. How- 

 ever, these data are useful to point up some of the characteristics to be 

 analyzed in locational problems. 



Of the 13,391 farmsf in New Hampshire listed by the 1950 Census, 

 about 60 percent were in four counties: Rockingham, Hillsboro, Merrimack, 

 and Grafton. Over 80 percent of the farms in the State as a whole sold 

 products valued at under $6,000 annually. In only three counties, Coos. 

 Rockingham, and Hillsboro, did the proportion of farms with annual 

 sales of $6,000 or over annually exceed 20 percent. Table 1 shows the 

 numbers of farms and percentages of farms grouped by total value of pro- 

 ducts sold. 



The preceding data once again point out the predominance of small 

 units among the customers available to retail feed outlets. Moreover, there 

 is not likely to be any sudden or extensive shift in this pattern. True, the 

 average size of "commercial" farms may continue to increase, but New 

 Hampshire will probably continue to have large numbers of "part-time" 

 or "residential" farms. Hence many sales to small units will continue to 

 be a characteristic of retail distribution of grain-feeds in the State, and 

 one which will play a significant role in determining: (a) the extent to 

 which bulk feed can be economically distributed; and (b) the practices 

 and economies which may evolve in bagged feed distribution. 



Data on the numbers and proportions of farms under various 1950 

 census classifications are contained in Table 2. Less than half of the total 

 number of farms in the State are classified as "commercial"; and in only 

 three counties, Coos, Hillsboro, and Grafton do numbers of "commercial" 

 farms exceed 50 percent of the county total. All counties were contained 

 in the range of 13-24 percent "part-time" farms, and all counties, except 

 Coos, fell in the range of 26-46 percent "residential" farms. The largest 

 percentages of large "commercial" farms (value of products sold annually 

 $10,000 or over) were found in Rockingham, Hillsboro, and Merrimack 

 counties. 



In terms of appraising a county as a market for grain-feeds, numbers 

 of farms are likely to be somewhat misleading unless tied to type of farm. 

 Table 3 shows numbers of farms by type. From these data it can be ob- 

 served that the largest numbers of poultry farms are in Hillsboro, Rock- 

 ingham, and Merrimack counties; and the largest numbers of dairy farms 

 in Grafton, Coos, Hillsboro, Rockingham, and Merrimack counties. It is 

 apparent that the distribution of dairy farms over the State is somewhat 

 more general than the distribution of poultry farms. Grain-feed needs of 

 poultry and dairy cattle would generally outweigh grain-feed needs of 

 other classes of livestock in locational analysis. 



* N. H. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 426, July, 1956, Tables 12 and 13. 



fThe 1950 census definition of a farm was: "places of 3 or more acres — if 

 the value of agricultural products in 1949, inclusive of home gardens, amounted to 

 $150 or more." 



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