Crop Eeport for the Month of July, 1897. 



Office of State Board of Agriculture, 

 Boston, Mass., Aug. 1, 1897. 



Bulletin No. 3, Crop Report for the month of July, is 

 herewith presented. Special attention is called to the article 

 on " Why milk sours, and how the souring can be prevented 

 or at least delayed," by Geo. M. Whitaker, A.M., acting 

 executive officer of the Massachusetts Dairy Bureau, which 

 is printed at the close of this bulletin. 



Progress of the Season. 



Report No. 150 (July, 1897) of the Statistician of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture states that the 

 consolidated returns on the acreage of Indian corn indicate 

 a decrease of 1.2 per cent, or a decrease of about 1,000,000 

 acres, the estimated area under corn now standing at 80,- 

 095,051 acres. Only ten States show an increased area 

 devoted to this crop as against thirty-four reporting a de- 

 crease. The average condition of corn is 82.9, or 9.5 points 

 lower than in July of last year. 



The condition of winter wheat is 81.2, or 2.7 points higher 

 than last month, and 5.6 points higher than in July of last 

 year. The condition of spring wheat is 91.2, or 1.6 points 

 higher than last month, but 2.1 points lower than last year. 

 The average condition of spring and winter wheat combined, 

 84.9, is 1.5 points higher than that of the corresponding 

 period of last year. The percentage of the 1896 crop of 

 wheat now on hand is 5.46. 



The average condition of the oat crop, 87.5, is 8.8 points 

 lower than in July of last year, but is only a small fraction 

 of 1 per cent lower than the average July condition of the 

 last ten years. Iowa, the leading oat-producing State of 



