SECRETARY'S REPORT. 55 



This table is designed to show how much the crops have been 

 injured by the drought in different sections of the State. It 

 would have been more strictly accurate to give the returns as 

 made from each town; but the great space which would have 

 been required made it impossible, and they have accordingly 

 been condensed, and given for the counties, by means of the aver- 

 age of all the towns in each county. This will be found to be a 

 very near approximation to the truth. 



It appears from this tabic, which has been very carefully 

 prepared from the original returns made by the farmers them- 

 selves, that the estimated average yield of Indian corn for the 

 whole State is thirty-one bushels per acre. Some counties 

 suffered more than others ; and the cost of raising per acre 

 is of course greater in some counties than in others, accord- 

 ing to the nature of the soil, the local prices for farm labor, and 

 other local circumstances. 



Xo crop, on the whole, withstands the drought so well as 

 Indian corn. This plant possesses a wonderful flexibility of 

 organization, which adapts it to a great variety of climate and 

 soil. The yield the past year has been somewhat under the 

 average ; but, judging from the tone of the returns, it is of good 

 quality. A farmer of Middlesex County says, " Corn is quite 

 sound this year, and, with a little more rain in July, would have 

 been uncommonly heavy, as we have had uncommon heat." 



For the last three years, this crop has been more extensively 

 cultivated than formerly, and it has now become the prime 

 staple product of New England. Owing to some cause at 

 present unknown, the disease which has attacked the potato 

 for the last few years has not made its appearance the past 

 year. This crop has therefore turned out better than for the 

 last nine years, notwithstanding the fears which were enter- 

 tained of its failure. But two or three instances of the disease 

 appear in the returns. But for some cause or other, still un- 

 known, the yield per acre, where not affected by the rot, is un- 

 less than it was in former years, when it was not uncommon 

 to get from 300 to 400 bushels from a single acre. An expe- 

 rienced farmer of Middlesex County says, " For twenty years 

 or more there has been a gradual decrease in the potato crop. 

 Under the same treatment for some years past, I have been un- 



