102 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



good sleighing, and it remained till near the close of the month. 

 The mean temperature for March was several degrees lower 

 than that of either of the three months immediately preceding, 

 and nearly all the ice which was stored for summer was formed 

 during this montli. Thus the respective characters of winter 

 and spring were to some extent reversed. 



It was feared that the openness of the winter would be unfa- 

 vorable to grass and winter grain ; but the injury proved to be 

 not greater than is usually experienced. Probably the exemp- 

 tion was due chiefly to the covering of snow during March, and 

 the even temperature of that month, March being usually the 

 most critical in reference to the crops alluded to. The destruc- 

 tion of grain and grass by the upheaving action of frost, or by 

 alternate thawing and freezing — usually termed "winter killing" 

 — miglit with more propriety be termed spring killing-, as it is 

 generally in the early part of spring that freezing and thawing 

 succeed each other most frequently. 



The season opened rather late. May and June were quite 

 dry, and July commenced so, giving rise to fears of a scanty 

 hay-crop from drought ; but on the 8th of the latter month, the 

 drought was broken by a moderate rain, which was soon followed 

 by others more copious, and before the close of the month up- 

 wards of twelve inches of water fell, flooding much of the grass 

 land of this section, retarding the process of hay-making, and 

 doing great damage to hay in the field. The month will be long 

 remembered as the " wet July." In consequence of so much 

 wet weather, the hay-crop, though abundant in quantity, was 

 generally of inferior quality. It is proper to say, however, in 

 this connection, that where hat/ caps were used the hay was 

 much less damaged ; and from all the evidence we have been 

 able to obtain, we believe these articles can be economically used 

 by farmers in the protection of their hay. 



August was much more wet than the average for that month ; 

 the low grass lands being so frequently overflowed that they 

 could not be mowed, and the hay-harvest was prolonged, in 

 many instances, into September, the first and the after growth 

 being then cut together. The constant supply of moisture, 

 however, had the effect to keep up the growth of grass, and the 

 result was that on uplands, where the first crop was cut at the 

 usual time, a large crop of rowen was obtained, which, where it 



