Crop Eeport for the Month of June, 1908. 



Office of State Board of Agriculture, 

 Boston, Mass., July 1, 1908. 



The croj) report for July forms the second issue for the 

 current year. At the close of this issue is an article on 

 " Some Sheep Topics for Massachusetts," by Ray L. Grlbbin, 

 instructor in animal husbandry at the Massachusetts Agri- 

 cultural College. Professor Gribbin is familiar with the 

 conditions in the middle west, where sheep raising still forms 

 an important branch of agriculture, and has many valuable 

 suggestions to offer as to why and how it might be made 

 equally important in ISTew England in general and Massa- 

 chusetts in particular. This valuable farm animal has been 

 very much neglected in most parts of the State of late years, 

 but the number of inquiries we have received on the subject 

 shows a reawakening of interest, to stimulate and direct which 

 this article has been secured. It is full of practical sugges- 

 tions, and the advice given is along the line most likely to 

 prove profitable in this section, that of lamb and mutton 

 production. 



Progress of the Season. 



Preliminary returns of the Crop Reporting Board of the 

 Bureau of Statistics of the Department of Agriculture (Crop 

 Reporter -for June, 1908) on the acreage of spring wheat 

 sown indicate an area of 3.7 per cent more than the area 

 sown last year, indicating a total area of about 17,710,000 

 acres, or 631,000 acres more than sown last year. The condi- 

 tion of spring wheat on June 1 was 95 per cent of a normal, 

 as compared with 88.7 on June 1, 1907, 93.4 on June 1, 1906, 

 and 93.2, the June 1 average of the past ten years. The con- 

 dition of winter wheat on June 1 was 86 per cent of a nor- 

 mal, as compared with 89 on May 1, 77.4 on June 1, 1907, 

 82.7 on June 1, 1906, and 81, the June 1 average of the 

 past ten years. 



