106 



secure a vigorous gi»wtb and a jjood yield. The droughts of summer 

 always interfere, in a larger or smaller y)ortiou of the v/heat area, with 

 the proper time for seeding; those of last season were only a little more 

 extended and severe than usual. Our climate is peculiarly subject to 

 them, and this fact should enforce the more general draining, deepen- 

 ing, and mellowing of the surface soil, which alone, in the experience of 

 the past, as reported each spring from almost every county in the coun- 

 try, would suffice to insure against the worst effects of drought upon 

 our v/inter grain. 



In Maiiie the ground was deeply covered with snov/; but it was 

 believed that the plants were safe. In Aroostook County an interest in 

 winter grain is nrising, as the result of a few good crops of winter- 

 wheat last year. The snow was deep in New Hampshire on the 1st of 

 Ai)ril ; the earth frozen, in the locality of our Hillsborough correspond- 

 ent, " to the depth of seven feet." The small area reported in Ver- 

 ;mout was generally promising when last seen in the autumn. In Massa- 

 chusetts some reports of winter-killing are received. The few fields of 

 wheat near Providence, Ehode Islainl, are flourishing ; but rye is injured 

 by freezing, the ground having been bare most of the winter; and rye 

 in Kent County has been roughly treated by the winter winds of Feb- 

 ruary and March, which have been uimsiially high. In Connecticut 

 there has been much bare surface and severe weather, and the rye-fields 

 present a somewhat unpropitions appearance. The reports are more 

 favorable from Hartford than from Fairfield, Windham, and Xew London. 



The reports from New York in the early part of the mouth were not 

 very cheerful in tone, the snow and ice not having disappeared, but 

 indicated a probable improvement, under the influences of tine weather, 

 the plants being generally alive. A few^ extracts from correspondence 

 will illustrate these points: 



Niagara: Very poor; so dry last fall that but little growth was made 

 except on the best prepared land. Butcltess : Look badly now ; little 

 snow. Genesee: The wheat was small when winter commenced, and has 

 been uncovered most of the time ; the top looks dead, but there is probably 

 vitality enough in the roots to give a fiiir promise with favorable weather. 

 Chenango: Below average; little protection from sno^. Sullivan: 

 Scarcely any winter-wheat ; rye looks very bad ; little snow to cover 

 it. Yates : Wheat-fields are very bare now, but the roots seem to be 

 generally alive. The fall was extremely dry, so that it got a poor start, 

 and there has been no snow to protect it. -Seneca : Never looked worse; 

 top entirely dead. Monroe : Look?^ poor ; cold Avinter and little snow. 

 Jefferson: The ground was frozen hard in December, and afterward a 

 partial thaw settled the snow down into a hard icy crust, which has 

 since remained on the ground; hence the prospect is not very promising. 

 Urie: Small on account of drought in the fall. Albany: Eather poor, 

 having been exposed for three months to searching winds; but the hard- 

 est time is yet to coiue from freezing and thawing. CkautauqvM: Badly 

 frozen ; and looks bleached, owing to cold winds without much suovr. 

 Onondaga : Wheat got a light growth in the fall, and has been mostly 

 covered with snow since. Stenhen. : Severe cold and little snow has been 

 hard on wheat and rye ; the Fultz wheat looks better than any other, 

 and promises to be an acquisition. Washington: Ground frozen, more 

 than two feet deep, and has been solidly frozen all Vvdnter; nQW covered 

 with snow. Livingston: Wheat not looking well; steady cold with little 

 snow ; tlie ground froze]i very deep. Greene: Looks rather poor. The 

 ground has not been covered with snow a whole vreek during the entire 

 Aviuter; the coldest weather was in March, accompanied with high north 



