6 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 339 



if the service is to become effective and worthy of respect and enthusiastic 

 support. 



In this connection, it should first be established that soil conservation is 

 justified as a public policy. In the past, we have been inclined to assume 

 that this was the obligation of the individual farmer. His natural interest 

 in posterity was supposed to furnish the initiative for keeping the farm in 

 a high state of productivity. This is a splendid ideal and, no doubt, one 

 that makes a strong appeal, especially in areas where many of the sentimental 

 values of ownership and possession are recognized. Unfortunately, however, 

 the business of farming has become so decidedly competitive in recent years 

 that the responsibility of providing for the immediate requirements of the 

 farmer and his family has taken on tremendous proportions. This tendency 

 naturally crowds all interest in the conservation of soil productivity into 

 the background. As a result, our soils have deteriorated through erosion 

 and general exhaustion at a very rapid rate and there is definite realization 

 that this is a matter deserving of the constructive interest and support of 

 the entire consuming public if our standard of living is to be maintained. 

 The fertility of the soil is, without doubt, our greatest natural resource. Our 

 present and future prosperity is largely dependent upon it. It must be con- 

 served. If the individual farmer does not accept this responsibility the nation 

 must. The State of Massachusetts, while in general fairly sound in its soil 

 management program, thanks to its favorable natural conditions, nevertheless 

 has its problems in this connection. The Experiment Station is attempting 

 to assume some of the responsibility for leadership which these problems 

 require. 



AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS AND FARM MANAGEMENT 

 A. H. Lindsey in Charge 



An Economic Study of Secondary Milk Markets in Massachusetts. 

 Group I — Connecticut Valley. (A. A. Brown, C. R. Creek, and J. E. 

 Donley.) An earlier survey defined secondary markets as cities or towns, 

 with the exception of Metropolitan Boston, with populations of 10,000 or 

 more. Results of the present study tend to confirm the opinion held by 

 various groups that the corporate limits of such municipalities are unsatis- 

 factory boundaries for a market. On the basis of data secured from dealer 

 license applications, the Springfield market has been determined as an area 

 composed of nine towns and four cities. 



Just as markets are not necessarily delineated by city lines, neither are 

 milksheds for given markets distinct one from the other. The milkshed for 

 the Springfield area extends chiefly to the north and northwest, although a 

 few towns to the south and east are a part of it. Within this shed of 119 

 towns in five states, are three smaller markets with their sheds, plus a group 

 of farmers whose production goes to Boston. 



An experimental study was made of the net farm prices, deliveries, butterfat 

 tests, and trucking charges of the producers shipping to Northampton. The 

 wide range in price, the relatively small number of producers in the various 

 price classes, the scattered location of the producers, the low percentage of 

 producers in a given area who ship to Northampton, the fact that a predom- 

 inantly college market has characteristics not common to all, necessitated 

 extreme qualification of any conclusions which were drawn. With these limi- 



