88 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



colder than usual. The migrations of certain birds were delayed 

 somewhat during the latter part of the month. 



May was abnormally cold, the temperature being the lowest 

 since the Weather Bureau was established. The average temper- 

 ature for New England was 47.8. In a record kept at Amherst, 

 Massachusetts, extending back to 1837, no other May of so low 

 a temperature is recorded. The amount of sunshine was far 

 below the average. The rainfall was nearly normal, but the 

 snowfall was the greatest for May in the Weather Bureau rec- 

 ords for this section. The average temperature of New England 

 for April and May was the lowest for these months within the 

 past thirty years. The weather report asserts that the low 

 temperature and lack of sunshine retarded vegetation so that 

 the season at the close of May was from three to four weeks 

 later than normal. Some observers believed it to be the latest 

 ever known. The low temperature resulted in part from north 

 and northeast winds such as prevailed in April. The precipita- 

 tion for May was not excessive, but drizzly or foggy weather 

 was more prevalent than heavy rains. 



The average temperature for June was below normal and the 

 rainfall heavier, with one exception, than that of any June in 

 the records of the Weather Bureau in New England. The ex- 

 ception was June, 1903, when thousands of young birds were 

 destroyed by cold and storms,^ but the prevailing winds of this 

 month in 1917 were southwest, which kept the temperature 

 nearly normal much of the time. Early July brought cloudy, 

 foggy and rainy days, particularly along the coast, after which 

 the season became more nearly normal. The following entry 

 from my notebook, dated May 31, at Westborough, shows the 

 impression produced by the weather : — 



All the spring has been cold and drear with only a few exceptional warm 

 days. Rainy conditions, cold northwest to northeast winds have prevailed, 

 and in all my experience I can recall but one other spring like it. Even 

 now many trees in the woods show only swelling buds or tiny leaflets. 

 Yesterday, Memorial Day, people could not find wild flowers to decorate 

 the graves, and there were no lilacs, columbines, lady's slippers, butter- 

 cups, daisies or wild geraniums. The only one of the large wild flowers 

 that I found was jack-in-the-pulpit, and most of them were not well devel- 



» Special report on the Destruction of Birds by the Elements in 1903 and 19C4, Annual Report 

 of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, 1904, pp. 429-543. 



