21 



August was much more wet than the average for that month ; 

 the low grass-lands being so fre(iuently overflowed that they could 

 not be mowed, and the hay-harvest was prolonged, in many in- 

 stances, into September, the first and the after growth being then 

 cut together. The constant supply of moisture, however, had the 

 effect to keep up the growth of grass, and the result was that on 

 uplands, where the first crop was cut at the usual time, a large 

 crop of rowen was obtained, which, where it was well cured, went 

 far to balance the damage done to the first crop. 



The season continued wet to the close. Professor G. P. Bond 

 has kindly furnished for this Report the annexed table, showing 

 the monthly fall of water in rain and snow, at the Observatory of 

 Cambridge College, for the year 1863 



January, 



February, 



March, 



April, 



May, 



June, 



July, 



August, 



September, 



October, 



November, 



December, 



Making a total of 56.417 inches, which is 13.411 inches more 

 than the yearly average for 34 years. We have now had two con- 

 secutive years in which the quantity of rain has been considera- 

 bly greater than the general average. 



But while this section of the country has been thus copiously 

 watered, some other sections, particularly the Northwestern States, 

 have been so scantily supplied that many crops suffered from 

 drought. The latter section was also visited by untimely frosts, 

 which cut off the Indian corn crop to such an extent that the 

 price of that grain has been and still is higher in the eastern 

 markets than it has been for many years previously. It is wor- 

 thy of note, that at the time the damaging frosts occurred at the 

 West, viz. : — on the 17th and 18th of July, and the 30th and 

 31st of August, there was none to injure vegetation eastward of 

 Lake Erie. 



The visits of the Committee to farms, have not been as numer- 

 ous during the season of 1863, as in some former years. We had 

 one entry for the premium offered for the best cultivated farm, 



4 



