14 New Hampshire Experiment Station [Bulletin 241 



Vegetable Prices 



In order to show the effect of hotel preferences on vegetable prices, it 

 was necessary to obtain prices from a few growers in the White Moun- 

 tain district and from several Boston wholesale houses that are regularly- 

 supplying this demand. By further comparing these prices with the 

 quotations given in the Boston Produce Market Report it is possible 

 to estimate the premiums paid. 



It will be noted that the prices received by the local grower are always 

 above market quotations. (See Table 3) However, this amount does 

 not represent premium entirely because delivery was made to the hotels. 

 In general, the stewards stated they were willing to pay as much for 

 local products of equal quality as those from Boston would cost after 

 all charges were paid. On this basis, the apparent premiums of local 

 growers should be reduced by the amount of express charges and other 

 delivery costs incurred in obtaining vegetables through Boston sources. 



Express rates vary somewhat from the White Mountain section ; charges 

 per cwt. from Boston to North Conway, Bretton Woods, Bethlehem and 

 Whitefield are $1.24; to Plymouth $1.09. 



The prices given under the heading of a Boston distributor are rep- 

 resentative of those received by the wholesalers who are accustomed to 

 supplying the hotels. Although these prices are F. O. B. Boston, it will 

 be noted they are higher than the market quotations for all vegetables 

 except cauliflower and tomatoes. (See Table 3) The extra margin is 

 partly due to handling charges for services rendered. It may also be the 

 result of higher quality goods. Any published quotation necessarily has 

 to represent the average going price. It is possible that other price levels 

 exist above the average price for a smaller amount of goods of high 

 quality. Attention is also called to the fact that this house was able to 

 supply several commodities many weeks before these products were 

 quoted in the Boston Produce Market Report which would tend to show 

 that they are rendering extra service in catering to the hotels. 



The varying margins obtained for head lettuce by the local grower 

 and Boston distributor over market quotations are illustrated in Figure 

 1. The local grower furnished head lettuce of superior quality, or the 

 hotels would not have been willing to pay a premium for it consistently 

 over other sources. Toward the forepart of September his lettuce was 

 of poor quality and the price was lowered. 



Although the local grower received a higher price for lettuce through- 

 out the season than that obtained by the Boston distributor, this condi- 

 tion did not hold true for spinach. (See figure 2) In the forepart of 

 the season the local grower received a price which was above market 

 quotations and below the price of a Boston wholesaler ; in five weeks 

 time the price was lowered to $1.40 a box and continued throughout the 

 season regardless of terminal market changes. During the weeks of 

 August 30th and September 6th, he received a price for spinach over 

 five times as great as the quotation. On the other hand, even though 

 the wholesale house secured a large margin over quotations, it followed 

 the general market changes. These illustrations show some hotels are 

 willing to pay a high price regardless of market conditions when they 

 are furnished quality products. 



