xiv BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



The crop was large and of good quality. But the cool 

 weather of the month was still unfavorable for cultivated 

 crops. Corn was particularly backward. August was also 

 cool, keeping corn back but giving good feed in pastures. 

 September bore off the palm for rain ; 10.70 inches of rain- 

 fall were recorded by the gauge at the Amherst Experiment 

 Station. A killing frost occurred over nearly the entire 

 State on the 6th and 7th, seriously injuring the unripe corn 

 and some other crops, particularly cranberries. October 

 was also a wet, cold month, with 5.19 inches of rainfall and 

 very few days of sunshine. Many fields of corn which were 

 injured by the frosts of September were completely ruined 

 by wet weather after stocking. The unprecedented amount 

 of bad weather throughout the entire season not only injured 

 quantity and quality of money crops, but made it impossible 

 to do much farm work seasonably. Our corn crop, both 

 grain and stover, was not much more than two-thirds the 

 usual amount. Rye, oats and hay were above the average. 

 Potatoes were a good crop in quantity, but the quality was 

 below the average. Some sections suffered severely from 

 rot. Onions and cabbage were much above the average, and 

 the market was thereby over-stocked, so that prices were 

 not sustained ; and many farmers find themselves at this date 

 with a large surplus on hand which the market will not take 

 at paying prices. Cranberries were much injured by the 

 early frosts. The final yield was not more than 75 per cent 

 of the crop of a year ago. Small fruits and market-garden 

 crops were quite as good as usual. A very large crop of 

 apples was secured, but the quality was not up to the 

 average. Prices have ruled low, and at this time hundreds 

 of barrels are in the growers' hands with no demand from the 

 trade for them. Prices of milk and butter have been fairly 

 sustained. On the whole, we must count the year 1888 as 

 not a particularly successful one for Massachusetts agricul- 

 turists. 



In order to give an idea of the peculiar meteorological 

 phenomena of the past year, we include a table prepared and 

 kindly furnished by the director of the State Agricultural 

 Experiment Station at Amherst. 



