No. 128.] DIVISION OF MARKETS. 49 



The continued co-operation with the press in Springfield, 

 Worcester, Northampton, Greenfield, New Bedford and Lowell, 

 together with the Associated Press of Boston, has added greatly 

 in making available market news to our people. A mention 

 of co-oi)erative agencies is incomplete without the names of 

 the radio broadcasting stations which have this year, for the 

 first time, disseminated market news to our agricultural popu- 

 lation. Our news is broadcasted from the American Radio 

 and Research Corporation at Medford Hillside, from the Clark 

 University at Worcester, and from the Westinghouse Electric 

 and IManufacturing Company at Springfield. Co-operative 

 relations are maintained with the departments of the Agri- 

 cultural College, which are conducting lines of work similar to 

 our own. 



Information on Marketing. 



In the State of Massachusetts are approximately 4,000,000 

 people. Provided each person consumed 10 cents' worth of 

 vegetables a day, the total value of vegetables eaten in Massa- 

 chusetts each year would amount to $146,000,000. The census 

 credits us with a production in Massachusetts of about $15,- 

 000,000 worth of vegetables, including the estimated products 

 of home gardens. 



It has been estimated that a sale from 150,000 to 250,000 

 bushels of produce a year from a single Massachusetts farm is 

 not unusual. The volume of crops varies from year to year, 

 but the steady sale is from the large greenhouse growers who 

 sell from 150 to 200 bushels of lettuce every day during the 

 winter season, following with their crops of cucumbers in early 

 spring, and outdoor crops in summer. The gross volume of 

 business of many of the market gardeners runs from $50,000 

 to $150,000 a year. The offsetting expense items, however, 

 must be taken into consideration. Without much question 

 the net profits have been much lower than for other types of 

 business of equal volume, with a turnover of only about twice 

 a year, as compared with a good many other lines of business, 

 where the turnover is from ten to twenty times a year. 



The Boston market distributes from 3,500 to 6,000 carloads 

 of foodstuffs per month, depending upon the month. These 

 are in the form of fruits, vegetables, dairy products, meat 

 and poultry. Sound economic development, low-cost produc- 



