P.D. 123 3 



assistance of the Federal Government resulting from the purchase of wind drops, but 

 the damage to the trees will be felt for the next twenty-five years. Many of the trees 

 that were torn from the ground were twenty to twenty-five years of age and the most 

 profitable in the orchards. New trees may be planted in the coming spring and will 

 remain for years to come as silent reminders of the violent gale of September 21, 1938. 



Our open front poultry houses faced to the south and offered little resistance to the 

 onrushing wind which lifted the roofs and deposited many of them hundreds of yards 

 away from the remaining remnants of once sound, substantial henhouses. Thousands 

 of high-producing pullets were scattered by the wind and many of them lost. It has 

 been estimated that in Alassachusetts poultrymen suffered one million dollars damage. 

 The rebuilding program on our poultry farms is well under way. Old buildings have 

 been repaired, and new buildings are in the process of construction ; and the new ones 

 will be of sturdier construction than those that have gone with the wind. 



Out in the Connecticut Valley, the damage resulted not only from a wind of gale 

 proportions, but also from rushing, rising turbulent waters which overflowed the banks 

 of the Connecticut River and carried away farm crops and livestock, and in some 

 places left a residue of worthless sand on the fertile lands. In. the town of Hatfield, 

 92 tobacco barns were blown into masses of wreckage. Many oF these tobacco sheds 

 contained the entire year's production of the farm, and the resulting debris was worth- 

 less. Most of the wreckage has been cleared away and some new sheds are in the 

 process of construction. Others will never be rebuilt, and on certain farms adjust- 

 ments will be made in the acreage of tobacco to be planted. 



Our dairy farmers were not forgotten by the hurricane. Many of the towering 

 silos that dotted our hillsides were victims of the gale, and the loss of these storage 

 facilities for the dairy farmer's ensilage will handicap farming operations during the 

 winter months. Many of our older dairy barns did not survive the fatal wind and in 

 a few instances valuable dairy livestock was crushed in the wreckage. Barns in all 

 sections of the hurricane belt were stripped of shingles and had to be repaired before 

 winter snows and storms caused greater damage. This work has been done, and new 

 barns are being built to replace those destroyed. 



Production of Staple Crops 



As a result of lower acreage planting and unfavorable growing conditions, many of 

 our staple crops dropped in production and production value. 



Our corn crop showed a decrease of about 160,000 bushels and the value dropped 

 from $1,410,000 to $1,052,000. There has been a noticeable increase in potato acreage 

 during the past ten years but 1938 showed a cut of 1000 acres in production and a 

 money loss to farmers of approximately $70,000. 



Tobacco on about the same number of acres took a drop in production from 

 8 262,000 pounds to 6,702,000 pounds, and the production value dropped from $2,197,- 

 000 to $1,419,000. It should be remembered that thousands of pounds of tobacco were 

 destroyed during the hurricane when tobacco barns in all sections of the Connecticut 

 Valley were demolished and the drying tobacco was crushed and destroyed. 



Cranberry production took a drop in 1938 but we cannot attribute this to the hurri- 

 cane. Other climatic conditions, including serious frosts during the late spring, were 

 responsible factors in cutting the 1937 production of 565,000 barrels to 300,000 in 1938. 

 The price, as might be expected for a short crop, was quite favorable and the estimated 

 production value was $3,150,000. 



Our acreage of onions dropped from 3,550 in 1937 to 3,050 in 1938 and total produc- 

 tion increased from 639.000 to 732,000 sacks in 1938. However, the quality of our 1938 

 onion was not as good as other years, due to excessive rain during the growing season, 

 and the production value declined. 



During the past ten years our poultrymen have given careful attention to breeding 

 and the improvement of flock management. Egg production has increased from 222,- 

 000,000 eggs in 1926 to more than 400,000,000 eggs in 1938, and this increase is due in 

 no small measure to the time and attention that has been given to R.O.P. work by the 

 Department of Agriculture and a large number of progressive poultrv raisers. The 

 value of our chickens in 1938 was $3,658,000 and when this figure is added to the value 

 of our eggs there is indeed a very substantial value to our poultry industry. The pro- 

 gress of the turkey growers has been comparable. The value of turkeys raised on 

 Massachnsen? farms in 1929 was $361,000 and in 1938 the production value was $939,- 

 000. Ou.r turkey industry is fast approaching the $1,000,000 mark and this notable 

 success is due primarily to the courage and foresight of a small group that has consis- 

 tently fought disease and developed modern methods in raising turkeys in Massachu- 

 setts. 



