xii BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



deficiency was 1.55 inches. Several severe thunder-storms, 

 .some of which were accompanied by hail, occurred during 

 the month. During a thunder-storm at East Foxborough 

 on the 9th a barn was struck by lightning and burned, with 

 five horses, two cows and ten tons of hay. 



Generally fair, cool weather prevailed during October 

 over the greater part of the State, and harvesting was com- 

 pleted and fall ploughing carried on under favorable con- 

 ditions, except where the ground remained too dry in 

 western counties. In the eastern part of the State the 

 heavy rain of the 12th to the 14th filled up the ground and 

 all reservoirs, and, although it delayed work on low land, it 

 put the ground into first-class shape for ploughing and seed- 

 ing generally. There was less than the usual amount of 

 rainy weather and cloudiness, but in the eastern part of the 

 State, owing to the heavy rainstorm referred to, the total 

 for the month was considerably above normal. At Boston 

 rain began at 1.55 p.m. on the 12th and continued till 4.30 

 a.m. of the 14th, and in that time occurred the heaviest 

 continuous rainfall ever recorded at the weather bureau sta- 

 tion there. The total amount was 5.64 inches, 4.85 inches 

 falling from 8 p.m. on the 12th to 8 p.m. on the 13th. Im- 

 mediately surrounding Boston the fall was greater than at 

 that station, but in the south-eastern part of the State very 

 little came, and in western districts it was not out of the 

 ordinary. At Framingham 8.49 inches was recorded by 

 the Boston water works, and at other places between that 

 town and Boston the fall was from 6 to 8 inches. The mean 

 temperature was about 1.7 degrees per day below the nor- 

 mal at Boston, and there were few rapid or extreme changes 

 and no spells of continued warm or cool weather. The first 

 heavy frost of the season occurred at many south-eastern 

 districts on the morning of the 11th. On October 6 an un- 

 usually high tide prevailed along the eastern coast, caused 

 by a cyclonic storm that was moving northward far out 

 to sea. It was one of the highest ever noted at Beverly 

 Farms. 



November was considerably warmer than usual, and in 

 many sections ploughing and other farm work could be 



