X BOARD OF ACMIICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



and scarcely any rain fell from the 1st of June until late in 

 July. Thus, what promised to be an excellent hay crop proved 

 to be a trifle below the normal, although somewhat better 

 than for several years. On high, ordinarily dry land, early 

 planted crops germinated well, but owing to the lateness of 

 the season and to scarcity of help, planting in general was 

 very mnch behind. The drought of the early summer also set 

 back the crops to some extent. The value of the use of the 

 summer silo, supplementing the shortage in the pastures, 

 was again strikingly illustrated, and attention was directed 

 to this important adjunct to the dairy industry by an article 

 in the July Crop Report by one of New England's most suc- 

 cessful and most practical dairymen. Farmers, however, were 

 much more fortunate than in 1911, in that the lateness of the 

 spring was largely offset by a corresponding lateness in the 

 fall, the month of September being unusually favorable to the 

 development of the backward crops. While there were neither 

 late frosts in the spring nor early frosts in the fall to do serious 

 damage, it is worthy of note that not a month passed during 

 the year which was not accompanied by light, but more or less 

 general, frosts. 



The season of 1912 as a whole can be considered as a fairly 

 profitable one, although the scarcity and high price of help, 

 low prices for certain products, excessive cost of repairs to 

 tools and buildings, high prices of grain and feeds and the 

 high cost of the necessities of life were all factors in reducing 

 materially the profits which might have been realized in the 

 absence of these drawbacks. 



The apple crop was somewhat below the average in quan- 

 tity, but in quality it was excellent. The results of the edu- 

 cational exhibits and demonstrations, conducted by this Board 

 and other organizations, are very gratifying in the larger appli- 

 cation of modern accepted methods of producing and marketing 

 this fruit. Tliis points tlie way to the supplanting of western 

 fruit in our New England markets by the choicer native products 

 grown in close proximity to our wonderful markets by the farmers 

 and fruit growers of Massachusetts and neighboring States. 



Market gardeners did fairly well, although early ])otatoes 

 were nearly a failure, and onions were very low in ])ri('(\ T/ate 



