chusetts is given as 273,275 ; losses, 3,006, or 1.1 per cent. 

 The condition of sheep is almost uniformly high, the result 

 of a comparatively mild winter, good care and a sufficient 

 supply of food. The losses of sheep during the past year 

 were lighter than during any recent season. The impor- 

 tance of this class of animals in the economy of the farm is' 

 each year better appreciated. The number of sheep in 

 Massachusetts is given as 57,644; losses, 980, or 1.7 per 

 cent. More damage was done to sheep by dogs than by dis- 

 ease. The condition of swine at the close of the winter is 

 considerably better than at the same date a year ago. The 

 swine of the country have been healthful, being free to an 

 unusual extent from either fatal or trifling disorders durino- 

 the past year. It naturally follows that the aggregate loss 

 from diseases of all character must be small. The percent- 

 age of loss amounts to but 5.4, the smallest return in any 

 recent year. The number of swine in Massachusetts is s^iven 

 as 66,536 ; losses, 932, or 1.4 per cent. The condition of 

 the diflerent classes of farm animals, as reported for Massa- 

 chusetts, is : horses, 98 ; cattle, 94; sheep, 100; swine, 98. 

 Report No. 95 (May, 1892) states that the past month ha,s 

 been only moderately fovorable for wheat, and the advance 

 in condition is only from 81.2 to 84. The season to May 1 

 has been somewhat unfavorable for grasses in almost all sec- 

 tions of the country, while in some it has been such as 

 to work permanent injury. The consolidated returns for 

 meadow and mowing lands make an average of but 89.6, 

 and for pasture 87.5, against 97.2 and 97.8, respectively, 

 last year. The proportion of spring ploughing usually done 

 on the 1st of May is a little above three-fourths for the whole 

 country. The present season has been cold and unfavor- 

 able for rapid progress of spring work, and the proportion 

 returned as done is only 64.6 per cent. Taking the country 

 as a whole, there is in ordinary years but little fluctuation in 

 the comparative area devoted to the principal crops, but 

 there are always local changes aftecting the cropping of difler- 

 ent districts. For a number of years there has been a 

 marked tendency toward increase of grass area, which still 

 continues. The most marked change of the year is the 

 reduction of the cotton acreage, which is reported fiom 



