8 N. H, Agri. Experiment Station [Station Bull. 307 



enter into the trucking picture. Prior to August, 1937, only one Bos- 

 ton plant was in operation, though early in that year a reloading sta- 

 tion was opened pending the construction of a co-operative plant. This 

 reloading station had much the same effect on the trucking of milk as 

 would an additional plant, and in this study is treated as a separate 

 plant. 



At the time of the study, milk was coming to Lancaster from an area 

 the most of which could be enclosed in a circle with a radius of twelve 

 miles. Such a circle would include a part of Vermont, but only a few 

 Vermont producers send their milk to Lancaster plants. This produc- 

 tion area is in one of the best dairy sections of the state. Production is 

 relatively concentrated, as shown by the fact that amounts varying 

 from 35.000 to G5.000 pounds of milk have been produced daily for the 

 Boston market in recent years in this area. About 300 producers nor- 

 mally send their milk to Lancaster plants. 



Figure 3 shows the routes taken by milk coming to the Lancaster 

 plants. In maps on file at the Experiment Station each truck route is 

 indicated together with farm stops and any stops at collection points 

 on the main road. These details, while valuable for some purposes 

 would seem only to complicate the presentation here and so are omitted. 

 Instead, an attempt has been made to indicate the general course of the 

 various routes together with the amount of milk carried on each. This 

 is done by varying the width of the line representing each route in ac- 

 cordance with the total amount of milk carried upon it. Commercial 

 truck routes are shown by solid lines ; routes of individuals hauling their 

 own milk, by broken lines. Where routes follow one another over the 

 same road, this is indicated in the diagram by lines running parallel 

 and close to one another. Routes going to other markets and entering 

 the territory included in the diagram are shown by dotted lines. 



These routes are shown as they were in June, 1937. At that time, 

 because of the unsettled market conditions, some milk which formerly 

 came to Lancaster from Vermont was diverted to Concord, Vermont; 

 and receipts at Lancaster were thus somewhat below normal. Esti- 

 mated amounts of milk carried on the various truck routes in Juno were 

 ditiicult to secure and in many cases were calculated from the volumes 

 carried in an earlier month. In making this adjustment, all routes were 

 assumed to have the same seasoLal variation in production as the aver- 

 age for all Boston shippers in the Lancaster area. 



Routes varied all the way from one where milk was brought on a 

 wheelbarrow in summer and a sled in winter to one where some five 

 thousand i)ounds were hauled by a single truck. About 26 out of a 

 total of nearly 300 piodiicci-s hauled their own milk in Jiuie, 1937. 

 (This number was below the average of the past few years and was a 

 temporary situation which lasted only until the new co-operative plant 

 was put in operation in August, 1937.) 



Prodiicei's hauling their own milk supplied about 12 per cent of the 

 milk handled througii Lancast<'r plants at the time this study was made. 

 Their importance in other parts of the state supplying the Boston mar- 

 ket was higher tliaii that indicated above, the percentage of producers 

 delivering their own milk t<'nding to inerea.se as the size of the country 

 plant decrea.ses. 



I 



