ANNUAL REPORT, 1933 5 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 

 Alexander E. Cance in Charge 



Factors Affecting the Price of Eggs. (A. H. Lindsey.) Work on this project 

 was suspended to allow for the completion of the bulletin on "Shipping Massachu- 

 setts Apples," in time for publication this fall. 



Competitive Factors Influencing the Supply of Market Milk and Cream. 



(A. H. Lindsey and A. E. Cance.) The importance of the secondary markets 

 to the dairymen of Massachusetts is illustrated by the fact that 8L6 per cent 

 of the supply to 29 Massachusetts cities of over 10,000 people (outside of the 

 Metropolitan milk shed) came from within the State. Vermont supplies 7.1 

 per cent; New Hampshire 5.3 per cent; Connecticut 1.9 per cent; Rhode Island 

 3 per cent New York 1 per cent; and Maine 0.07 per cent. These out-of-state 

 supplies total 41,667,305 quarts yearly. This may be compared with 65,420,000 

 quarts supplied to the Boston area by Massachusetts producers. 



Data on the consumption of milk by 5,010 to 7,793 families in Worcester during 

 the month of April for the years 1928, 1930 and 1932 were supplemented by data 

 for 8,032 families for April 1933. Data for about 400 identical families for the 

 same periods were also obtained. In summary the data show that the average 

 regular daih' deliveries of milk per family were: 



Quarts Year Index 



1.366 1928 100 



1.351 1930 99 



1.362 1932 99 



1.317 1933 96 



That is, regular deliveries in 1933 were about 96 per cent of those in 1928. 



The data on the consumption by identical families are subject to slight error 

 because of the disappearance in 1932 and 1933 of some of those selected in 1928. 

 Using an index of 100 to represent average daily consumption in April 1928, 

 the index rose to 101 in 1930 and then fell to 98 in 1932, and to 91 in 1933. 



In general the data indicate a comparatively stable demand for milk despite 

 lowered incomes and unemployment. 



Marketing of Milk in Secondary Markets of Massachusetts. (David Rozman.) 

 This study has been completed and published as Bulletin 304. 



Decentralization of Industry and Part-Time Farming in Massachusetts. 



(David Rozman.) This project has been approved only recently, and the work 

 is in its initial stages. The main objectives are to investigate and analyze the 

 most important features connected with part-time farming made possible by the 

 location of industrial plants in small towns and villages, and to indicate the type 

 and condition of land settlement most suitable under varying conditions of work- 

 ing in the industrial plants established in the country. 



Changing Methods of Wholesale Distribution of Perishables. (Lorian P. 

 Jefferson.) The importance of this project increases as the emphasis continues 

 to shift from one type of wholesaler to another. The traveling jobber becomes a 

 greater factor in the system, a factor which disturbs not only the regular whole- 

 saler and jobber but the railroads, which are affected by him as well as by the 

 truck operator who does not hold title to the goods he carries. City and state 

 throughout the country seek legislation looking to the control of both these 



