16 



Benefit from Raix. 

 The returns relative to the crops most benefited by rains 

 occurring subsequent to date of the last report have been 

 tabulated. Sixty-one, or just one-half the correspondents, 

 report benefit to grass ; 30, or one-fourth, benefit to cabbage ; 

 26, turnips; 24, corn; 23, fall feed; 16, potatoes; 15, all 

 late garden crops; 11, beets; 10, celery; 9 each, fall seeding, 

 cauliflower and apples ; 8, carrots ; and nearly every late crop 

 is named a lesser number of times. Scattering reports from 

 Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Middlesex, Plymouth and 

 Barnstable indicate that no rain fell until either frost had 

 damaged crops or growth had ceased. Rain mthout frost 

 would have increased the value of late crops tremendously, 

 since few had made normal growth during the long drought. 



Frost. 



Frosts were general between the 9 th and 16th, inclusive, 

 throughout the five western counties. The frosts of the early 

 part of the week were comparatively light, injuring crops 

 only on low land, but the damage done on the 14th, 15th 

 and 16th was severe and widespread, being reported from 

 every county. In some places the temperature fell to 28° F., 

 and shallow pools were skimmed with ice. Locally, frosts 

 occurred from the 1st to the 18th, with one in Hampshire 

 on the 23d. 



The loss by frost, in dollars and cents, is placed at 30 per 

 cent of the value of all crops. For the State the greatest 

 damage, in order, was done to corn, tomatoes, squash, beans, 

 potatoes, cranberries, millet and melons. 



The damage to specific crops was great in certain localities, 

 of no consequence in others, and, in fact, so variable as to 

 make futile an attempt to estimate from the scattered re- 

 turns at hand the real injurv done. 



