No. 4.] KEPORT OF SECRETARY. xi 



another, di\ersiiied farming, particularly under our condi- 

 tions, is much surer to yield a steady profit than when only 

 special crops are grown. The market gardeners had a very 

 poor winter, owing to the low price of lettuce and other 

 greenhouse crops, but they more than made up for this dur- 

 ing the late spring and summer months, when the prolonged 

 drought reduced the volume of farm truck to a minimum, 

 thus greatly enhancing the prices received for these inten- 

 sively grown crops. As most of the market gardens are well 

 irrigated, market gardeners do not fear a dry summer, and 

 more and more of our farmers are also coming to see the 

 value of some form of irrigation and are installing it on 

 their farms. The onion growers of the Connecticut Valley 

 in particular are using irrigation with great success, and crop 

 increases of over oOO bushels per acre are recorded, as the 

 result of irrigation. The onion crop generally was light this 

 season, and prices ruled high, so that on the whole the onion 

 growers were well satisfied. The hay crop was very good 

 on the average, sufficient rains in the spring and early sum- 

 mer having given the grass a good start, and in most places 

 a good crop was harvested under splendid weather conditions 

 in late June and early July. A very noticeable thing this 

 season was the large percentage of clover which appeared in 

 many mowing fields where no clover was sown. One very 

 common explanation of this was the very mild winter of 

 1912 and 1913, causing clover to winter well. Another was 

 the increased use of lime in JMassachusetts, by which soils 

 too sour for clover have been sweetened enough to grow this 

 crop, which is certainly a very important one for our dairy 

 farmers, although clover is not desirable in the timothy, or 

 herd's grass, which is intended for horse hay. 



The apple crop of the State was severely cut by the heavy 

 frost of late May, when temperatures of 25° were recorded 

 in many places, after the blossoms had fallen and the fruit 

 had set ; many apples which were not injured enough to fall 

 were so marked as to reduce them to second and third grades. 

 While the result was a very great reduction of the crop, 

 still the apples in general were of fine quality and good color. 

 Prices have ruled high, from $2 to $4 a barrel, but the very 



