SECRETARY'S REPORT. 57 



since then they have had an idea that manure increased the 

 rot." 



Although the trees of the forest had generally made their 

 growth for the year before the drought commenced, yet our 

 returns show that they Buffered greatly from its effects; and 

 here we have another proof of its severity. When a drought 

 is prolonged, the leafy organs of all vegetables, not finding their 

 usual nourishment, and losing many of their own juices by 

 evaporation, must cease to carry on the processes of life with 

 vigor : in extreme cases they wither and die, and their loss 

 may even cause the death of the plant. In a very dry atmos- 

 phere, the evaporation from the leaves of trees sometimes has 

 a similar effect. These effects, the falling of the leaves, and 

 the check, to a considerable extent, of the growth of the tree, 

 were observed on shallow soils in all parts of the State during 

 the hot weather of the last season. One farmer of Worcester 

 County says : " It has retarded their growth, and caused their 

 foliage to fall prematurely. The mountain ash seems to have 

 been more seriously affected than any other tree that I have 

 noticed. The leaves were actually dead, and most of them 

 fallen, by the first of September." SoinEssex County, an ob- 

 serving farmer writes : " We feel confident that forest trees 

 have suffered to a considerable extent by the drought. In 

 some instances a whole acre looked as if a fire had passed over 

 it. This is not common." In Middlesex County, " The trees 

 on hills having a rocky substratum, had the appearance given 

 to a forest where a fire had been in its near vicinity, but had 

 not passed directly through it. The leaves turned early, not 

 assuming the usual autumnal tints, but a dingy brown or choco- 

 late color." Another says : " The drought appears to have 

 been very injurious to the walnut in particular. Very many 

 of these withered, and probably the coming season will tell 

 a sorry account of the influence of the drought on trees." 

 The results, except so far as they may be inferred from these 

 extracts, cannot now be known. 



I have already enumerated the most injurious droughts which 

 have occurred in Massachusetts since its settlement, including 

 that of the last year, and referred to the sufferings which arose 

 8 



