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MIDDLESEX COUNTY. 



Hopkinton (W. V. Thompson). — Elm-leaf beetles and spittle insects 

 are doing damage; potato bugs very few and easily handled. Indian 

 corn is in good condition, but from a week to ten days late, owing to 

 drought; large proportion raised for silo. The quality of the hay 

 crop was good, but the yield was light and there is little prospect for 

 rowen. Hungarian grass and millet are the principal forage crops 

 grown and are in fair condition. Potatoes are suffering from drought. 

 There will not be many apples, pears or peaches; plums set for good 

 crop; full crop grapes set. Pasturage is getting dry. Rye is a good 

 crop ; oats light ; barley best of the three. Not many bees are kept 

 here. Sowed half an acre of barley last May, which came into bloom 

 in sixty-one days, and is almost two feet high. 



Marlborough (E. D. Howe). — Potato bugs and elm-leaf beetles are 

 doing damage. Indian corn is rather backward; about half the crop 

 goes into the silo. Quantity of the hay crop 75 per cent ; quality 95 

 per cent. Millet, sweet corn and peas and oats are raised for forage 

 crops and are in fair condition. Apples 75 per cent ; pears 50 per cent ; 

 peaches 70 per cent; plums 30 per cent; quinces 75 per cent; grapes 

 95 per cent. Feed in pastures is badly dried up. Rye, oats and barley 

 are about normal crops. About half a dozen people keep from 1 to 

 5 hives of bees. 



Stow (Geo. W. Bradley). — Brown-tail moths and elm-leaf beetles 

 are doing some damage. Corn looks well, but is backward; very little 

 raised for the silo. The hay crop was a smaller cut than usual, but was 

 of fair quality. Oats, Hungarian grass and Japanese millet are the 

 principal forage crops grown and are looking fairly well. Aj:>ples and 

 pears are dropping badly; other fruits scarce. Pastures were looking 

 quite brown, but the rains will improve them. Rye, oats and barley 

 are about average crops. But very few keep bees. 



Littleton (Geo. W. Sanderson). — The elm-leaf beetle, brown tail 

 and gypsy moth and potato bugs are doing damage. Corn is in good 

 condition ; about two-thirds the crop goes into the silo. The hay crop 

 is much larger than last year and of better quality. Millet, Hungarian 

 grass and oats are the forage crops grown, and they are in good condi- 

 tion. There is a light fruit crop in general, though pears are fair. 

 Pasturage is very good. Rye, oats and barley are good crops, but are 

 little raised for grain. Few indulge in keeping bees; only two persons 

 keep them to any extent. 



Townsend (Geo. A. Wilder). — Potato bugs and the brown-tail 

 moth are our most troublesome insects. Indian corn is a little pinched 

 by the dry weather, but promises an average crop. The hay crop was 

 average in quantity and of very good quality. Corn is the principal 

 forage crop grown. Market-garden crops have been good and promise 

 well. It looks as though we should have an extra crop of fruit. 



