x BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



the profits of the season regarded it as profitable, 25 as an 

 average one for profit, 20 as fairly profitable and 27 as un- 

 profitable. In Bristol County, where the growing of straw- 

 berries is an important item, the correspondents were nearly 

 unanimous that the season had not been profitable, owing 

 largely to the low prices received for fruit. 



Massachusetts Weather, 1898. 



[Compiled from data furnished by the New England Weather Service.] 



January was about normal in temperature and considerably 

 above the average in precipitation. There was an unusually 

 severe storm from January 31 to February 1, which was 

 generally considered to have been more severe than the 

 "blizzard" of March, 1888. Heavy snow fell all night, 

 and on the morning of February 1, Massachusetts, with the 

 rest of New England, was completely snowbound. Railroad 

 travel was completely at a stand-still for twenty-four hours, 

 and many vessels were wrecked along the coast, nearly two- 

 score mariners losing their lives. 



February was above the normal in both temperature and 

 precipitation, but the snowfall was generally moderate 

 throughout the State. The first part of the month was 

 very cold, but later in the month the weather was mild. 

 There was much cloudiness and rain and an unusually severe 

 hail and sleet storm on the 19th to 2 2d. In the central 

 southern portion of the State much damage was done by ice 

 forming on the trees and stripping them of their branches. 



March was remarkably mild and pleasant, and at the end 

 of the month the ground was generally in good tillable con- 

 dition, with the snow gone and frost almost entirely out. 

 The season was considered to be two or three weeks in ad- 

 vance of the average. The precipitation was deficient and 

 the snowfall very light, while the month was singularly free 

 from severe storms and gales. The temperatures were at 

 60° or above on several days, and the minimum values were 

 unusually high. 



The prevailing weather of April was most unfavorable for 

 agricultural pursuits. The remarkably fine weather of March 

 presaged an early spring, but April in some parts of the 



