Crop Repoet for the Month of May, 1908. 



Office of State Board of Agriculture, 

 Boston, Mass., June 1, 1908. 



Herewith we present the first issue of the crop report for 

 the current year. These bulletins will be issued monthly 

 until iN^oyember 1, and will be made up in much the same 

 way as in former years, with information as to crop and 

 climatic conditions, both in Massachusetts and throughout 

 the United States, reports of correspondents, and special ar- 

 ticles on subjects which are, or should be, of interest to our 

 farmers. The article for the present issue is on " Potato- 

 growing Suggestions," bv Dr. Chas. D. Woods, director of 

 the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. The potato 

 crop is one which is sadly neglected bj most of our farmers, 

 whereas it is one of the great money crops of Maine. Dr. 

 Woods is thoroughly posted on their methods of growing the 

 crop, and has prepared a thorough and yery instructiye ar- 

 ticle, special emphasis being laid on the importance and yalue 

 of spraying, and full directions being giyen therefor. 



Pkogeess or the Seasox. 



The Crop Reporting Board of the Bureau of Statistics of 

 the United States Department of Agriculture (Croj) Re- 

 porter for May, 1908) finds the area of winter wheat stand- 

 ing on May 1 to haye been about 29,751,000 acres, which is 

 4.2 per cent, or 1,318,000 acres, less than the area reported as 

 sown last fall, and 5.8 per cent, or 1,619,000 acres, more than 

 the area haryested last year. The ayerage condition of win- 

 ter wheat on May 1 was 89 per cent, as compared with 91.3 

 per cent on April 1, 82.9 on May 1, 1907, and 85.8, the mean 

 of the ayerages of the past ten years. 



The ayerage condition of rye on May 1 was 90.3, as com- 

 pared with 89.1 on April 1, 88 on May 1, 1907, and 89.5, 

 the mean of the ayerages of the j)ast ten years. 



