PART I. 



GENERAL ANNALS. 



§1. Crops and Prices, 1893. 



The past year was, in general, an unhappy one to the horti- 

 culturist. Crops were either light and poor or they brought 

 low prices. The evil results of unpropitious weather were 

 heightened by the serious financial depression which swept 

 over the country in midsummer, and the effects of which are 

 still very apparent in every business. Apples, particularly, 

 were a very light crop. Even in Ontario, where the yield of 

 winter apples is commonly heavy, the yield fell below one- 

 quarter of a full average crop, and in the Mississippi Valley it 

 was smaller still. In most parts of New York the winter 

 apples were less than in 1892. Peaches were a full crop in 

 nearly all parts of the country, and the same may be said of 

 grapes. Pears and plums ran from fair to good. Strawberries 

 were generally a poor or indifferent crop, especially in the 

 Middle and Western States. Raspberries gave average returns, 

 as a whole, but blackberries were severely shortened by drouth. 

 Continued dry weather also shortened the staple field and vege- 

 table crops. The Pacific slope reports average yields in most 

 directions, although apricots were light in California.' The 

 citrous crops of California and Florida are large. Heavy pro- 

 duction of strawberries and annual crops were stimulated by 

 the approaching Columbian Exposition, but the demand from 

 this source was less active than had been anticipated, and heavy 

 losses resulted ; but the lesson has been well learned that tem- 

 porary markets are rarely profitable ones to the horticulturist. 



Climatic Conditions. — Over much of the country the 

 climatic conditions were unpropitious, particularly in dearth 

 of rainfall. The statistician's report, from the Department of 

 Agriculture, shows, during the period of crop growth, a defici- 

 ency of rainfall in the principal agricultural districts except 



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