10 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



severe frost was recorded on the nights of June 10 and 20. 

 This did great damage to many of our tender plants, par- 

 ticularly in low places. Very good growing weather followed 

 during July and August, in consequence of which most of the 

 planting affected by the adverse weather in June caught up, 

 and, while September was very wet, growing conditions for 

 late crops were good, and this was followed by splendid weather 

 during October and November, so that with few exceptions 

 grass and other crops have gone into winter in good condition. 

 So far as can be determined from the figures available, the 

 rainfall in Massachusetts for the year averages somewhat below 

 normal. 



Massachusetts farmers, in common with those of the whole 

 country, responded splendidly to the call for patriotic service, 

 and in many instances at the expense of their pocketbooks. 

 Massachusetts farming is a business of specialized crops, and 

 so, while the fixing of a minimum price for wheat has of course 

 been of great advantage to grain-growing States, it has not 

 been a factor of importance here. There were no minimum 

 prices for our principal native-grown crops, so that the Massa- 

 chusetts farmer was forced to take all the risk. In the case of 

 a number of crops this has resulted in heavj^ losses to the 

 growers. 



The striking feature about farming in this State this year has 

 been the increase of grain crops. Wheat acreage, from prac- 

 tically nothing before the war, rose to 700 acres in 1917, and 

 about 2,500 in 1918. This is still a diminutive acreage, but 

 the war has set our farmers thinking about the great staple 

 crops, and it is to be hoped that Massachusetts will never 

 return to the wheatless condition of the years ending with 1914. 



Corn acreage was largely increased, from 61,000 acres in 

 1917 to 71,000 in 1918, the total crops being estimated at 

 2,806,000 and 3,323,000 bushels, respectively. Hay, one of the 

 crops Massachusetts depends much upon, has been the highest 

 in years. This was due largely to the dry spring and severe 

 winter. The crop has brought about $5 per ton more than 

 previously. 



The potato acreage was large and the crop of fair size and 

 good quality, the latest figures showing a production in 1918 



