8 UNIV. OF N. H. AGR. EXPERIMENT STATION [Bulletin 222 



In addition to freight receipts, considerable amounts also came in by 

 express and motor truck. It was impossible to get any reliable records on 

 the amounts shipped in this way. 



Definition of Terms 



"Purchases" of farm products will be understood in this bulletin to 

 mean the purchases of retail stores, hotels, large restaurants and boys' 

 and girls' camps, as obtained in the survey. 



"Competing season" means the season during which local products 

 can be sold on the local market with the usual methods of production and 

 storage. 



"Non-competing season" means the season when local products are 

 not available for sale on the local market with the usual methods of pro- 

 duction and storage. 



THE STATE SITUATION 



Agriculturally, New Hampshire is not self-supporting. With a large in- 

 dustrial population, small amounts of tillage land and short growing season, 

 she consumes a much larger quantity of food than she produces. Apples, 

 whole milk, eggs and chickens she ships out in large quantities, but in the 

 case of all other commodities she imports more than she ships out.* 



The amount of farm products coming into the state, however, does not 

 give any indication as to whether local farmers should produce these 

 commodities. It merely indicates the size of local markets and the 

 amount that local producers can increase their production without 

 apparently having to ship out to other markets. Whether or not the 

 farmer should produce a larger supply to meet the local demand is a 

 separate question in the case of each commodity. 



The summary figures, of course, do not indicate total consumption, 

 since many farmers sell direct to consumer and since many consumers 

 have their own gardens. Neither do they include the large amount of 

 products sold as canned goods which are practically all shipped in. 



Of the approximately $3,357,000 in purchases of vegetables and field 

 products by retail stores and hotels, $1,220,000, or 37 per cent, was paid to 

 local farmers, and $2,137,000, or 63 per cent, was paid to others. (See 

 Figure 1.) In money value the outstanding imports are butter $2,805,- 

 000, potatoes $656,000, chickens $339,000, dry beans $330,000, asparagus 

 $165,000, strawberries $294,000, and dry onions $200,000. 



The records of shipments in and of purchases from farmers for the 

 various commodities in the state as a whole are shown in Table I, and the 

 per cents of each commodity purchased from local farmers and from 

 others are shown in Figure 1. From this chart it may be noted that over 

 94 per cent of the butter, dry beans, turkeys and dry onions purchased by 

 stores and hotels were shipped in, and on the other extreme that 92 pm 

 cent of sweet corn was purchased from local farmers. 



The purchases from outside, however, in the case of some commodities 



* There are a few instances of shipments within the state, but the amounts are be- 

 lieved to be small. The amounts of products reported as purchased from other than 

 local farmers, but which may have been grown within the state, are difficult to estimate. 

 It is definitely known that a few apples were shipped from Rockingham county to Lan- 

 caster merchants, that considerable sweet corn was trucked or expressed to the White 

 Mountain region from Claremont and from Strafford county, and that a few cars of 

 potatoes arrived on the Manchester market from northern New Hampshire. 



