4 N. H. Agri. Experiment Station [Station Bull. 307 



indicated a haphazard, planless system not only so far as trucks or 

 wagons are concerned but also of transportation routes and of hauling 

 charges. "With few exceptions, at the time these studies were made, no 

 concerted efforts had been made to put the transportation of milk upon 

 an orderly and efficient basis. Trucks might be running at less than 

 half or more than twice rated cai)acity and might be of models not 

 adapted to milk hauling. Routes frequently crisscrossed or paralleled 

 one another with resultant duplication of distance traveled. Charges 

 often bore no discoverable relationship to services rendered. 



In the light of findings such as these, the desirability of investigating 

 the situation in New Hampshire is evident. Much New Hampshire 

 milk is sold at wholesale. And all wholesale dairymen are affected by 

 the manner in which their milk is assembled from the farm to the plant 

 where it is processed. Producers benctit when these assembling 

 processes are efficient and the eft'ects of the efiicieiicy are reflected back 

 in the form of low assembling charges. Conversely, producers suffer 

 when inefficiency is present or charges are not based on serviee& 

 rendered, or both. 



The term "assembling" is used here to include all operations per- 

 formed in taking the milk from the farm on which it is produced to the 

 plant in which it is processed for distribution. Included, therefore, are 

 the transporting of milk from fai-m to country station, the operation of 

 country stations, and the transporting of milk from country station to 

 city plant. 



Only the first of these operations, the transporting of milk from farm 

 to country station (or city plant, where milk is directly shipped), is 

 considered here. By limiting the scope of this study to the trucking of 

 milk, greater emphasis can be placed at this time on this phase of the 

 assembling process, and information of value can be released without 

 delay. 



Method and Scope of Study 



The study was conducted on a state-wide basis. 



An attempt was made to include all commercial trucking of milk 

 from farms in New Hampshire in June. l!J;i7. Data obtained regard- 

 ing the truck routes included the following: 



1. Tyi^e of operator (whether employed by dealer, independent 

 hauler, transporting co-operative, and so forth) and contract made. 



2. Descrii)tion of route. This included the jilolting on a map of the 

 actual route taken by the truck in collecting milk and the location of 

 the stops. From the map, estimates were made of the total distance 

 traveled, of the distance between the first and last stop, and that trav- 

 eled without making stojjs, and of the <listnnce traveled on hard roads 

 and on unpaved roads. 



3. Services rendered — whether ice was furnished l)y tiie trucker 

 and. if so, when and how nuieh ; the number of sto])s made at in- 

 dividual farms and at collection i)oints on the main rojid. If any ad- 

 ditional services were rendered, they were noted. 



4. The amount of milk carried by each truck in June, WM. 



5. Description of the truck, including any other uses to which it wa& 

 put. 



