to cut in northern parts ; tobacco-topping in progress ; crop 

 in good condition. 



Week ending August 7. — New England. Boston : Weather 

 favorable for haying and all farm work, but little rain, and 

 drought again becoming serious, especially in southern sec- 

 tions ; haying about completed ; oat harvest progressing ; 

 potatoes, corn, tobacco and cranberries promising. 



Week ending August 14-. — New England. Boston : Rain 

 of past week greatly improved condition of crops in southern 

 portion ; drought again becoming severe in northern por- 

 tion ; light frosts on 8th and 9th in northern sections, with- 

 out damage ; general rain needed for fall ploughing. 



Week ending August 21. — New England. Boston : Gen- 

 eral drought prevailing ; all crops at a standstill ; corn 

 especially suffering for rain ; tobacco and cranberries prom- 

 ise good crops ; apples very small yield, but excellent fruit ; 

 frosts occurred in many sections without damage. 



The Weather for August, 1899. 



The month opened with several days of generally fair 

 weather in all sections, and seasonable temperatures. Show- 

 ers, where any occurred, were of short duration and the 

 amount of precipitation light. The fair weather with abun- 

 dant sunshine was favorable to haying and harvesting and 

 to farm work generally. By the close of the first week the 

 dry weather began to be seriously felt in the eastern coun- 

 ties of the State. Reports from numerous sections in the 

 territory mentioned stated that farmers had never seen their 

 meadows so dr}'. Streams, springs and brooks were low 

 and stock water becoming scarce. Copious showers oc- 

 curred on the 10th and 11th, resulting in great benefit to 

 all vegetation. These were chiefly in the eastern portions of 

 the State and by the 15th there was much complaint of the 

 drought in the western counties. The weather was some- 

 what cool from the 7th to the 14th, the temperature ranging 

 several degrees lower than for the preceding week. During 

 the third week of the month the weather conditions 

 were unfavorable. There was little or no precipitation, 



