10 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



threshing and husking are somewhat behind. On the whole, it 

 was a fairly favorable year for farmers. 



With the war over, and scarce, high-priced and often unsatis- 

 factory labor demanding ever shorter hours, farmers naturally 

 tended to let crop acreages become normal again-, with resulting 

 increases for oats and potatoes and decreases for beans, buck- 

 wheat, corn, hay, onions and rye, and no change in barley, 

 cranberries and tobacco. 



The agricultural crop of apples, i.e., the entire crop, is esti- 

 mated at 3,240,000 bushels as compared with 2,430,000 bushels 

 last year; while the commercial apple crop is placed at 335,000 

 barrels as against 300,000 barrels last year. The fruit has been 

 of good, quality and has sold unusually well; the demand for 

 apples for by-products has been especially strong and at good 

 prices. 



Peaches were somewhat disappointing because of the wet, 

 muggy weather at harvest time and due to the sugar shortage, 

 which lessened demand. The crop was of good size and many 

 growers sold their crops at good prices. The crop is estimated 

 at 136,000 bushels, or 80 per cent of a full crop, as against a 

 practical failure last year, due to the winter of 1917-18. 



Cranberries are estimated at 340,000 barrels as against 

 195,000 last year. The demand ia New England markets has 

 been poor much of the time, due to the sugar situation : but the 

 demand in western markets is reported as fairly good. Labor 

 was more or less restless and control over the pickers was less 

 effective than usual, with the result that greater wastage of the 

 cranberries and more damage to the vines are reported by the 

 cranberry growers. 



Pears, although a minor crop in importance, were consider- 

 ably better than average, while nearly all berries were plentiful 

 in most sections. 



The acreage of beans fell off from about 5,000 last year to 

 about 2,500 this year, but the yield was higher and the produc- 

 tion is estimated at 40,000 bushels against 70,000. 



The acreage of field corn was about 43,000 as against 45,000 

 last year; but the season was unusually favorable, resulting in 

 high yields. Silage corn is estimated at 32,900 acres as against 

 35,300 acres last year; and the crop was one of the heaviest in 



