Ceop Eeport for the Month of May, 1911. 



Office of State Board of Agbiculture, 

 Boston, Mass., June 1, 1911. 



This bulletin is the first issue of the twenty-fourth volume 

 of the series. The form of these bulletins will remain prac- 

 tically as in past years, with information as to crop conditions 

 in Massachusetts and throughout the United States, weather 

 conditions, list of publications, and special articles of timely 

 interest. Suggestions as to improvements in the bulletins, of 

 any kind, will be welcomed from our readers, and they are 

 requested to call our attentioiTto any subject or subjects they 

 would like to see taken up in special articles. 



The article for this month is by one of the most successful 

 of our younger market gardeners, Mr. Henry M. Howard of 

 West ISTewton, Mass., and deals with crops which are of inter- 

 est to all from the extensive market gardener to the suburban- 

 ite, with his kitchen garden. The subject is " The growing 

 and marketing of squashes, melons and cucumbers," and it has 

 been treated in a very practical and exhaustive manner. 



Progeess of the Seasojst. 



f 

 The Crop Reporting Board of the Bureau of Statistics, 



United States Department of Agriculture, estimates that on 



May 1 the area of winter wheat to be harvested was about 



31,367,000, or 1,940,000 acres (6.6 per cent) more than the 



area harvested in 1910, and 3,118,000 acres (9 per cent) less 



than the area sown last fall. The average condition of winter 



wheat on May 1 was 86.1, compared with 83.3 on April 1, 



82. 1 on May 1, 1910, and 86, the average of the past ten 



years. This condition, taken with the estimated area to be 



harvested, would indicate a total production 5.4 per cent more 



than the final estimate of production last year, 9.6 per cent 



more than the production of 1909, and 8.7 more than the 



average annual production of the past five years. 



