15 



time of the report. Some consternation is felt for the corn 

 crojj, as it is feared that the continued rains will prevent the 

 putting in of the seed, or that, if put in, it will rot in the 

 ground. On high, ordinarily dry land germination has been 

 good. Tobacco setting was begain in the Connecticut valley 

 the last week of the month. 



Faem Help and Wages. 

 Farm help is almost universally reported as very scarce, 

 and the percentage of what may be called good help as very 

 small. Much of the available help is of the foreign element, 

 and demands constant supervision. The farmers who are 

 establishing boarding houses, and who have sufficient work to 

 employ " year-round " help, are eliminating the labor prob- 

 lem to some degree. Wages seem to be advancing all the 

 time. The average pay, with board, appears to be from $25 

 to $30 per month ; without board wages run from $35 to $45 

 by the month; $1.75 to $2 for day help, or 20 cents an hour. 



Acreage of Farm Crops. 

 Owing to the prevailing high prices of both corn and j)o- 

 tatoes there evidently will be a slight increase in the acreage 

 of both this year, provided the weather will permit. It is 

 hoped that more and more attention vnll be paid to the 

 legumes. ISTitrogen is the highest priced element in our fer- 

 tilizers, and every farmer should utilize nature's method of 

 securing the free nitrogen of the air by gi'owing the clovers, 

 alfalfa or other leguminous crops to a gi-eater degree. The 

 awakening interest in fruit growing, stimulated by the two 

 'New England Fruit Shows, is in evidence in the reports of 

 the establishment of new orchards and the renovating of old 

 ones. The tendency in the middle western counties seems to 

 be toward a larger acreage of onions. 



Pheasants. 

 In general the reports would seem to show that the damage 

 in the State by pheasants is very little, but on analyzing these 

 reports we find that in Essex County, where the pheasants 



