May, 1929] Demand for Vegetables and Poultry 23 



dark pin feathers and pigment in the feather folHcles were more visible 

 However, this color preference was not made for fowl or roasters as 

 both classes are cooked and served differently, so that the color factor is 

 not so noticeable. 



Dressed poultry was preferred from those breeds which have coarse 

 muscle fibers and relatively less connective tissue because they give a 

 more tender flesh. Comparisons of cross-sections of meat representative 

 of White Leghorns, Barred Plymouth Rocks and Buff Orpingtons show 

 White Leghorns to have the smallest amount of muscle fiber and largest 

 amount of connective tissue ; whereas with Buff Orpingtons the reverse 

 was true. Barred Plymouth Rocks belonged in the class intermediate 

 between the other two ; Rhode Island Reds are in the nomenclature of 

 Barred Plymouth Rocks, or other general purpose breeds.* 



Dressed Poultry Prices 



Since it was impossible to visit all the hotels at one time the prices re- 

 ceived are scattered over a period from July 25 to August 22. In order 

 to present these prices on a comparable basis, the highest wholesale quota- 

 tions given for boxed western fresh broilers, western fresh frozen and 

 native fresh-killed roasters and for western fresh-killed fowl in the Bos- 

 ton Produce Market Report were used along with the top prices reported 

 paid by the hotels on the same day. See Tables 5, 6, and 7. A wide 

 range of prices results between hotels on the same day which would in- 

 dicate that dressed poultry is being purchased of varying quality. The 

 greatest range occurs with broilers and the smallest with roasters and 

 fowl. During the second week of August prices paid for broilers varied 

 from 40 to 55 cents a pound. It is important to note that the highest 

 price, 55 cents a pound on August 8. and the lowest pri^e. 35 c^nts a pound 

 on August 1, reported by hotels F and C respectively were for local 

 grown and dressed broilers. These data are shown to better advantage 

 in Figure 4. 



There was less difference in the prices paid for fowl than for broilers 

 or roasters. The lowest price paid for local lowl, 32 ( ents a pound, equal- 

 led the quotation on that day. The highest price, 36 cents a pound, was 

 also paid for local fowl and was 2 cents over quotations. In the case of 

 roasters, the lowest price, 38 cents a pound, was p^'id by Hotel E for local 

 dressed roasters. This price is 12 cents a pound be ow the market quota- 

 tion of native fresh killed stock. On the other hand the price reported by 

 Hotel C of 40 cents a pound for local dressed roasters and also for roast- 

 ers from sources in Boston, is 10 cents below the highest market quotation 

 for th? Fpm? dav. There are s°^■eral i^:stancrs wh^e the hotels have re- 

 ported prices 7 cents a pound below wholesale quotations when buying in 

 Boston. It is doubtful if roasters purchased so much below the market 

 are enual in ouality to those represented in the quotation. Hotel I paid 

 55 cents a pound for roasters to local men and to Boston houses, which 

 is 5 cents over the market quotation. 



♦Marketintj Pouhry Products — Benjamin,. E. W. page 89. John Wiley and 

 Sons, Inc. 



