xxii BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



The first half of February was uninterruptedly cold and 

 the second half uniformly mild, the mean monthly tem- 

 perature being about 2° below the normal. The precipita- 

 tion of the month was practically normal. A typical " coast 

 storm," with violent gales, occurred on the 12th and 14th. 

 Railroad traffic was considerably interfered with, but the 

 loss of life at sea was comparatively small. 



March was conspicuous for much unpleasant weather, 

 cloudiness and precipitation being almost constant. An 

 ice storm of wide-spread area occurred on the 19th, doing 

 considerable damage to trees and telegraph poles. The tem- 

 perature for the month averaged about 1° below the normal, 

 and at its close the season was backward in all sections. 



April was remarkable for the large number of clear and 

 fair days, there being but six stormy days during the month. 

 The early part of the month averaged cool and the closing 

 days were unusually warm. The average temperature of 

 the month was very near the normal, but there was a 

 marked deficiency in precipitation. Preliminary spring 

 work made excellent progress. 



May was remarkably deficient in precipitation ; for, while 

 the number of days with a measurable amount of precipita- 

 tion averaged about as usual, there was no good, soaking 

 rain. As the result, the precipitation was the smallest since 

 the establishment of the Weather Service in 1870. The 

 temperature averaged about 1° per day above the normal. 

 The coolest period of the month was from the 17th to the 

 23d, Avhen frosts were prevalent in exposed localities. An 

 abundance of sunshine was a feature of the month. Crop 

 prospects were much impaired by the continued drought of 

 April and May. 



The first part of June gave extreme heat and absence of 

 precipitation, less than .9 inch falling at Boston, as against 

 a normal of about 1.75 inches. The temperature of the 

 month was decidedly above the normal, the average daily 

 departure being about 5° plus. The drought was broken 

 during the latter part of the month by severe thunder storms 

 with excessive precipitation, but any damage to fruit and 

 " washing " of fields was more than compensated for by their 

 beneficial eflfects. Much damase was done to fruit and glass 



