X BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



bills than any other crop the farmer can raise. If one-half 

 the energy were expended in growing clover that is put into 

 the other branches of the dairyman's work his financial 

 standing at the end of the year would be bettered by many 

 dollars. 



The apple crop, like last year, was better than was ex- 

 pected in the early part of the season, and brought unusually 

 good prices. Our apple growers, therefore, are in a pros- 

 perous condition. If they will give the attention to pack- 

 ing and sorting that they should, the fancy apple trade will 

 pass from the western growers and remain at home. I hope 

 to see the day when the shipping of Colorado and Oregon 

 apples beyond Chicago shall be a thing of the past, except 

 in times of local scarcity and for European export. Other 

 fruits gave good average yields and brought good prices. 

 Cranberries were a light to medium yield. 



The problem of damage from wild deer is becoming a 

 very serious one, especially to the orchardist. Approximately 

 $10,000 will be paid when the bills for damage by deer for 

 1909 are all settled. In many sections it is impossible to 

 plant an orchard with any hope of bringing the trees to 

 bearing age, unless the grower is prepared to go to the almost 

 prohibitive expense of providing a fence high enough to keep 

 these animals out. I submit that deer serve no useful pur- 

 pose in an agricultural community. They furnish a certain 

 variety to the landscape and look very pretty, feeding on some 

 other man's laud, Imt w^e can hardly allow this menace to 

 continue if we intend to attempt to build up the orchard in- 

 dustry of Massachusetts. The Fish and Game Comuiission 

 estimates that there are 8,000 Avild deer in Massachusetts, 

 and that they are increasing at the rnte of 40 per cent Y>cr 

 year. With $10,000 damage money paid the past year, and 

 the immense dauiage caused by the animals which cnunot be 

 paid for in dollars and cents considered, the continuation 

 of the present policy of protection presents, in the light of 

 the above estimates, an outlook that is positively ap])all!ng 

 from the standpoint of the farmer and the orcliardist. T 

 would reoommend that tlio protectirtn now enjoyed by tlu^sc 

 animals be absolutelv -withdrawn. 



