elation of the better potential farms and improved roads. The location of 

 better agricultural lands and/or farms has apparently been given only 

 minor consideration in the building of improved roads. There has been 

 little change in this respect since 1942, when it was concluded that: 



"Inadequate rural road services in New Hampshire have contributed 

 to an uneconomic use of rural land and to an incomplete realization of 

 agricultural and recreational opportunities. . . .a large majority of the so- 

 called 'declining areas' are those districts most inaccessible in a town. . . . 

 many of the declining areas are made unfit for agriculture by uncontrollable 

 natural factors, . . . Nevertheless, too many areas in the state are declining 

 because they are not readily accessible. . . . "* 



Hence, while some farm units may have gone out of production because 

 of inaccessibility, many have continued to operate. These oftentimes present 

 a problem to the feed dealer from the standpoint of added route mileage, 

 the fact that roads may be impassable at certain seasons, or the load limits 

 involved may require at times substitute delivery equipment. Although 

 such units are in the minority, their importance is significant. 



Table 10 shows distributions of distances to farms over dirt or unim- 

 proved roads and kinds of roads on which farms are located. Belknap, 

 Carroll, Coos, and Grafton counties have a lower percentage of their farms 

 located where travel distances over dirt or unimproved roads is less than a 

 mile than the percentage for the state as a whole. On the other hand. Cheshire. 

 Coos, Merrimack, Rockingham, and Strafford counties have lower percent- 

 ages of farms actually located on dirt or unimproved roads than the per- 

 centage for the state as a whole. 



The condition and location of roads is a paramount consideration in 

 determining route efficiency. Road condition, as will be discussed later, is 

 also a limiting factor to the extension of bulk feed delivery. The promotion 



Table 10. Distances to Farms Over Dirt or Unimproved Roads and Kinds of 

 Roads on Which Farms are Located, New Hampshire and Counties 



* Parks, W. R., and J. C. Holmes, New Hampshire Rural Town's Comparative 

 Road Burdens and Road Services, N. H. Agr. Exp. Sta. and Bur. Agr. Econ. Cooper- 

 ating. Bui. 339, June, 1942, p. 6. 



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