May, 1925] 



FARM PRODUCTION IN CHESHIRE COUNTY 



31 



prodiicpd locally because of their invariably lower prices. Furthermore, 

 marketing and distributive agencies tend to prevent such an adjustment. 

 A large part of the eggs coming into the county are handled l)y the chain 

 stores, who do not make a general practice of buying from local producers, 

 but depend upon buying in the open market or from such organizations 

 as the New Hampshire Co-operative Marketing Association. This asso- 

 ciation, in turn, in order to be assured of a uniform supply, requires its 

 members to ship all of the eggs they sell to Boston, where they are 

 graded and re-packed. Such agencies tend to check farm sales of eggs to 

 local stores. 



The farmer, however, is concerned primarily with the price he receives. 

 These larger distributive agencies aim to improve the grade of the prod- 

 ucts and handle them on a smaller margin. The Go-operative Marketing 

 Association has been able to secure by grading its eggs a price of 7 cents 

 above the top price quotations of the Boston Chamber of Conmierce for 

 approximately 78 per cent of its sales. The prices c^uoted by the Boston 

 Chamber of Commerce, together with the weekly price of eggs at Keene 

 as published by the Market Review of the New Hampshire Bureau of 

 Markets, are shown in Figure 8. 



Cheshire County poultrymen have no difficulty in selling fresh eggs 

 at high prices from August to January The local market will absorb 

 a much larger quantity at this time than is now being producsd locally, 

 and the price paid is often nearly twice that of March or June. (See 

 Table VIII.) 



Table VIII. — Quarterly nales of eggs for year ending September 30, 1934- 



Month. 



February-April . . . 



May-July 



August-October . . . 

 November- January 



Total 



Eggs sold. 



Doz. 



1,50,500 



155,200 



68,700 



59,400 



433,800 



Price. 



Cents. 

 38.4 

 37.1 

 53.4 

 70.4 



(Av.) 44.6 



.\ mount 

 received. 



$61,700 

 ■57,700 

 36,900 

 41,900 



$198,200 



The advantage of Cheshire County poultrymen, as well as those in 

 a large part of New England, over western producers is in the production 

 of eggs to supply the local demand during fall and early winter. 



The market for poultry is primarily local consumption, although con- 

 siderable amounts are shipped out of the county to Boston, Springfield, 

 and other towns in Massachusetts and New York. As shown in the fol- 

 lowing Figure 9, approximately 33 per cent of the hens and roosters 

 and 74 per cent of the broilers are shipped direct to outside markets. 

 A good many of the local purchases may also be shipped out to other 

 markets. 



Increased supplies of poultry would probably be marketed outside 

 of the county. Present prices, however, are based on the Boston market, 

 and an increase in production locally would not affect the price except 

 as it increased the supply of poultry on the Boston and outside markets. 



