40 
BULLETIN 1317, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 
the more densely populated rural sections of the Northeast, where 
wholesale distribution is effected by automobile routes, than in the 
more sparsely populated sections of the Middle West, where supplies 
are obtained only through refrigerator-car routes, express, or local 
slaughter. 
In sections where meats are more generally purchased in the car- 
cass, a large percentage of the rougher cuts of the lower grades of 
beef, pork spareribs, and cuts that would otherwise be converted into 
sausage are " barbecued," or cooked, before being sold. This method 
is used most extensively by retail dealers of the South. Meats are 
also barbecued in some stock-raising sections as a method of dispos- 
ing of less desirable cuts, particularly of the fore quarter. The 
shrinkage is overcome, to a great extent, by recovering the juices and 
drippings and saturating the meat as it is sold to consumers. 
The average annual fresh-meat sales of the rural combination meat 
and grocery stores were only $7,764, as 55 per cent had annual sales 
of less than $5,000 and 28 per cent less than $1,000. The average 
annual fresh-meat sales for stores of the same type in cities were 
more than three times as large. Straight meat markets in the small 
towns averaged $17,268, about two-fifths of the average annual sales 
of this class of shops in cities. ( See Tables 6 and 23.) In some of the 
smaller market's the proprietor had another occupation to which 
he gave part time. Sales volume of meats in these small village 
grocery stores and even in the straight meat markets is not sufficient 
to justify an investment in shop equipment, such as the mechanical 
refrigerating systems, ice display cases, slicing machines, and power 
sausage grinders that characterize the modern shop and promote the 
sanitarv and economical handfine of meats. 
Table 22. — Relation of number of stores retaining fresh meats to urban and 
rural population 
[Eight completely canvassed counties, 1920] 
Cities (urban dis- 
tricts) included 
Urban district 
Rural district 
County 
Popu- 
lation 
Total 
num- 
ber of 
stores 
Num- 
ber 
oper- 
ating 
entire 
year or 
nearly 
entire 
year 
Popu- 
lation 
per 
store 
Popu- 
lation 
Total 
num- 
ber of 
stores 
Num- 
ber 
oper- 
ating 
entire 
year or 
nearly 
entire 
year 
Popu- 
lation 
per 
store 
Merrimack, 
N. H. 
Broome, N. Y... 
Eau Claire, Wis. 
Ramsey, N. Dak. 
Lancaster, Nebr. 
Concord, Franklin 
Binghamton, 
Union, Endicott, 
Johnson City. 
Eau Claire 
Devils Lake 
Lincoln, Have- 
lock, University 
Place. 
28, 485 
88, 190 
20, 906 
5,140 
62, 662 
35 
90 
10 
3 
118 
35 
90 
10 
3 
118 
814 
980 
2.C91 
1,733 
531 
23, 285 
25, 420 
14,865 
10, 287 
23, 240 
22, 923 
21, 220 
40, 598 
32 
27 
6 
11 
23 
21 
6 
11 
22 
13 
6 
11 
23 
20 
4 
6 
1,038 
1,955 
2,478 
935 
1,010 
1,146 
Warren, Ky 
Richland, S. C 
Bowling Green 
9,638 
37, 524 
27 
40 
21 
28 
459 
1,340 
5,305 
6,766 
Total and 
252, 545 
313 
305 
828 
181,838 
137 
105 
1,732 
average. 
