Crop Eepoet for the Month of May, 1913. 



Office of the State Board of Agricultcre, 

 Boston, Mass., Jxine 1, 1913. 



Herewith is presented the Crop Report for the month of 

 May, the first number of volume 26, series of 1913. An 

 effort will be made this year to secure the information in 

 regard to crop and weather conditions from our correspond- 

 ents in the various parts of the State in such form as will 

 make possible deductions and conclusions which will be more 

 accurate and definite than those contained in previous re- 

 ports. So far as is practicable our correspondents will report 

 conditions on a percentage basis ; in this way the information 

 will lend itself more readily to classification and tabulation. 

 The general lines of investigation which have been pursued 

 since the beginning will be continued, however. 



A new, and we consider a very valuable, feature of the re- 

 ports this year will be the publication of returns from special 

 correspondents upon the different agricultural specialties 

 in the State. This month a beginning will be made with the 

 following specialties : fruit groAving, market gardening and 

 cranberry growing. As the work progresses it will be made 

 more and more valuable in the results obtained, it being 

 possible, by observation and attention to detail, to so improve 

 the methods employed as to bring about such results. 



The October. 1912, issue of the Crop Report closed the first 

 twenty-five years' existence of this publication. In view of 

 the fact that several of our correspondents have served the 

 Board of Agriculture, and, through the Board, the farmers 

 of the Commonwealth, in this capacity for this whole period 

 of time, and without pay, in money at least, it was deemed 

 expedient to give recognition of their services by the publica- 

 tion of a quarter-century anniversary number of the Crop 



