128 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



alogue of wants and offers for sale. When anybody writes to 

 ask where he can obtain a specific product, the commissioner 

 turns to his cards and writes the prospective buyer immediately. 

 On each Tuesday morning a printed bulletin of wants and offers 

 is sent to those whose names are on the mailing list. This 

 bulletin is also published regularly by the leading dailies of the 

 State and by twenty-one weeklies. The commissioner reports 

 that the average transactions of the bureau amount to $30,000 

 per week in dull seasons, and at least $60,000 per week in rush 

 seasons. 



The bureau of markets established in Michigan sends out 

 mimeographed bulletins regularly to a large mailing list in the 

 State, giving advice and information concerning market condi- 

 tions. The prospects of wheat prices, the situation with regard 

 to peaches, the probable supply and demand for beans, the best 

 method of federating the peach growers' organizations, are some 

 of the topics considered in these bulletins. 



Massachusetts needs a Market News Service. 



Enough has been said to indicate the importance of a market- 

 ing bureau, and to show that there is a field for such a bureau 

 in Massachusetts in addition to the instructional and investiga- 

 tional work that is now being done by the Agricultural College. 



1. One of the present needs of farmers in Massachusetts is 

 a comprehensive market news service. Such a news service 

 maintained by the Board of Agriculture might issue regularly, 

 in co-operation with the Federal office — 



(1) Weekly or daily quotations of prices of farm products in 

 Massachusetts and competing markets. 



(2) Statements of supply showing the condition of the market 

 crop in different market areas of production, the quantities that 

 are shipped from these areas and their destination, the quality 

 of the shipments and the size of the crop. This placed regu- 

 larly in the hands of Massachusetts farmers who had products 

 to ship would enable them to gauge intelligently the market 

 prospects and bargain more efficiently with middlemen. 



(3) The conditions of consumption, the market demand and 

 the possible outlets for the chief crops, not only in this State 

 but in others. 



