No. 123.] REPORT OF COMMISSIONER. 35 



was formed through which the former members of the Board 

 will meet each year. All these men have been in close touch 

 with the agricultural development of the State and are in a 

 position to be of great assistance in all constructive agricul- 

 tural activities. 



Farm Labor Bureau. 



Owing to the high wages and limited hours offered to workers 

 in industrial centers following the war, the season of 1920 found 

 the farmers threatened with a serious labor shortage. 



The Adult Farm Employment Bureau assisted many of the 

 farmers Avho were unable to get local help in finding men 

 to fill the vacancies. The farmers sent their applications to 

 the Employment Bureau with descriptions of the farm work, 

 wages paid, hours, etc., and suitable men were found to fill the 

 places. During the summer season, three hundred and sixty 

 calls for farm help came directly from the farmers. Two hun- 

 dred and fifty men were placed in farm positions, and it is 

 safe to say that two hundred others who were offered positions 

 found places on farms but failed to notify us. 



It is interesting to note that in spite of the strained farm 

 labor situation many more qualified farmers, the majority of 

 them being married men, applied for positions than we had 

 positions to offer. The difficulty appeared to be in the inade- 

 quate accommodations on the average farm for the married 

 man with family. 



The call of back to the farm is being answered for the most 

 part by the married man to whom the farm life, work and 

 compensation is making as strong an appeal as is the city to 

 the young man who has been reared on the farm. The ad- 

 justment cannot be made, however, until the farmer recognizes 

 the probable stability of the married man as a laborer, and 

 considers the extra financial outlay necessary for him as a good 

 investment. 



The selection, placing and supervision of high school boys 

 on farms, as originated and conducted by the Massachusetts 

 Committee on Public Safety in 1917, 1918 and 1919, was made 

 a part of the work of the Department of Agriculture in April, 

 1920. 



