SECRETARY'S REPORT. 95 



for haying, $17 per month, for six months, or $175, or over, for 

 tlie year. I do not think foreigners are worked to as good 

 advantage on our rough land as on smoother. They are, invari- 

 ably bad ox-tcarasters ; but vre are forced to employ them, or 

 none. Household labor, almost exclusively foreign. Price 

 paid, $1.25 per week, on an average." 



In the western part of Franldin County, it is said: — "V^e 

 have no foreign laborers on our farms. Native labor averages 

 about $12 per month." 



Another statement in the same county, says : — " Good labor- 

 ers, whether native or foreign, get from $15 to $20 per month. 

 Perhaps, one-ninth are foreign." 



The average of the four western counties of Berkshire, Hamp- 

 shire, Franklin, and Hampden, is found to be less than one-fifth, 

 and those are mostly Irish and French. 



The central towns employ a larger proportion of foreigners 

 on farms ; yet, in many of the towns, more remote from the 

 large centres of population, it will be found that all the hired 

 labor is native. 



In the eastern part of the State, on the other hand, by far 

 the larger proportion of hired farm laborers are foreign. It is 

 thought, that throughout the counties of Norfolk, Middlesex, 

 and Essex, more than three-fourths are foreign. In this respect, 

 there has been a great change within the last few years. Ten 

 or fifteen vears ago, the hired labor in eastern Massachusetts 

 was obtained from New Hampshire, Maine, and Nova Scotia ; 

 while within the last five years, comparatively few from those 

 places have presented themselves for hire. 



In the county of Bristol, it is said : — " But few foreign labor- 

 ers are employed on our farms. Common laborers, (Americans,) 

 receive from $12 to $18 per month, and found, for six or eight 

 months in the year. The price of farm labor, per day, is about 

 75 cents and boarded, with the exception of haying, when the 

 price is from $1 to $1.50 per day and found." 



The same may be said of a large part of the county of 



Barnstable, the proportion of native hired laborers being large. 



It is evident from what has been said, that the number of 



foreign hired farm laborers is increasing in all parts of the 



State, and in some sections, more rapidly than in others. 



