Dec, 1929] 



ROADSIDE MARKETING 



his own family's efforts he would probably be marketing iiis labor at 

 a fair price and at least have something worth-while to do. Records 

 of 24 general farmers from all counties of the state who sent in their 

 account books to be summarized by the University Extension Service 

 for the season of 1926 showed average total gross receipts at each farm 

 of only $3996,* and these are necessarily selected farms, undoubtedly 

 much better than the average. We shall go on to consider in more de- 

 tail this group comprising 103 locations. 



Table IV shows a summary of the stands most carefully studied. 

 The total sales for this group were something over a quarter of a mil- 

 lion dollars, or $279,515. The total sales of farm products either 

 raised or purchased were $67,659. It is perhaps safe to assume that 

 nearly a million dollars' worth of business is done at the roadside stands 



Table IV. — Total sales and sales at each stand for selected groups of commodities 



(103 locations) 



*A few large amounts from such items as leasing tennis courts and selling old-fashioned furniture, 

 groceries, and weaving and sewing which were not classified elsewhere make this group appear abnormally 

 large. 



in tlie rural communities of this state mostly by farm people, although 

 not as much as ten per cent of that amount would be represented by 

 farm products. 



The mere merchandising of farm products purchased in the city or 

 from others at a distance, and resold from a stand out of doors — a 

 jiractice which has called forth considerable protest from both produc- 

 ers and consumers in other states — ^is most conspicuous by its absence 

 at rural farm markets in New Hampshire. Perhaps the deception 

 would be more obvious in this state than farther south where a longer 

 growing season favors a much greater variety in farm production; 

 possibly, merchandising under New Hampshire conditions is found to 

 entail less risk when confined to less perishable wares like soft drinks, 



♦Unpublished data on file in office of Station Economist. 



