16 



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



Table III. 



Comparison of truck routes according to location and type of 

 operator, daily average, June, 1937.^ 



' Average per route except when noted. 

 - Based on one route only. 



the state. Not showii in Table III is the fact that proportionately many 

 more routes in the eastern section used ice during summer months than 

 did those in the Connecticut valley. Transportation charges per hun- 

 dredweight of milk hauled by independents were substantially lower in 

 the Connecticut valley than in the Merrimack-Coastal region. 



So large a number of factors influence the make up of a truck route 

 that it is not practicable to attempt to account quantitatively for all 

 the dift'ereiices indicated above. Since dairying is more dense and farms 

 have more cows in the Connecticut valley, trucks can obtain the same 

 load by traveling less distance with fewer stops in that section than in 

 the Merrimack-Coastal region. 



It seems probal)le, therefore, that these ditferences in lln' dairy pro- 

 duction pattern of the two areas have a great deal to do with the dif- 

 ferences found in the physical characteristics of truck routes. Regard- 

 ing the charges levied (which differ appreciably' between the two 

 groups), discussion of them is deferred to a later section. 



Turning now to a comparison of independent truck routes and dis- 

 tributors" trucks operating in the Merrimack-Coastal region, significant 

 difffM-ences appear. On the average, distributors' trucks carried only 

 al)Out one-half as much milk as did indepeiulents. Milk collected per 

 stop was about the same but number of stops per route made by dis- 

 tril)ntors' trucks averaged only slightly over half those made by inde- 

 pendents. Rates charged by (listributors averaged slightly higher than 

 those charged by independents. 



In order to find an explanation of these differences it is necessary 

 to look elsewhere tlian location of routes. As this conii)arison of in- 

 dependents and distributors' routes covers the same section of the state, 

 different oppoi't unities arising from different densities of i)roduction 

 or types of farming are not j)resent. 



The basis upon which these two groups of routes have been differen- 

 tiated is that oiu' group was operated by independent operators and 

 the otliei" liy distributoi-s. This suggests tliat an cx])1anation of th(> 



