Part I.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. 9 



nor the cost of producing it. Costs based on past experience 

 will not hold good for the future, as conditions are changing 

 from day to day. Prices are usually affected not so much by 

 overproduction, but rather by poor distribution and lack of 

 proper methods of conservation. These two very important 

 subjects are being carefully looked after for 1918, and should 

 allay the fears of the farmer that a fair price will not be 

 realized. 



Crops of 1917. 



Taken the country over, crops have varied more than usual. 

 The familiar cry that crops have failed in certain sections has 

 been true to a great degree. Certainly many sections of the 

 country never have suft'ered from bad weather conditions as 

 they have this year. The great grazing States have suffered so 

 from drought that hundreds of thousands of cattle are perishing 

 for lack of food. Late cold spring and early fall frost have re- 

 duced our largest corn crop to an appreciable degree. Severe 

 winter weather and wet spring made inroads upon the wheat 

 crop, none too large. Cotton in some States was badly affected 

 by the boll weevil, but on the whole is a fair crop. Potatoes, 

 with the exception of Maine, are well above the average, and 

 the quality is reported good. Cereals, while averaging well, 

 are difficult to move and late in reaching the market at this 

 writing. Corn in the great southwest is still unhusked, and it 

 will be some time before the new crop reaches the market. 



Massachusetts is not one of the leading agricultural States, 

 and the increase or decrease of agricultural production here 

 cannot have a controlling or even a vital effect on the war. At 

 the same time, it would be foolish to minimize the importance 

 of increased production of food within the borders of our Com- 

 monwealth, because every pound of food produced here will re- 

 place one that would otherwise have to be brought to us over 

 railroads already overburdened, and will release a pound that 

 can be sent abroad to our army and our allies. For this reason 

 it is a source of gratification not only that larger acreages than 

 usual of farm crops were planted in Massachusetts in 1917, but 

 that the season's crops turned out well, both in quantity and 

 quality, with one or two notable exceptions. 



