102 



.AGRICULTURAL LABOR 



sections are typical, indicating clearly the reports from all the states. In New 

 England very little regular labor in the fields is performed by women. Cana- 

 dian women, and occasionally Irish, hire out or work on shares in different 

 parts of New England, though the number employed is not large, and. they 

 will undertake nearly all kinds of farm work. Similar customs prevail in 

 New York, comparatively little outdoor service being rendered by American- 

 born women. In many districts in Pennsylvania very little outdoor employ- 

 ment is undertaken by women, while in others, especially in those less im- 

 proved, or with a large foreign element in the population, much and various 

 farm work is done by women. Among the poorer classes of whites in some 



FIG. 13. Women of foreign birth doing farm work. 



counties in Maryland, the Germans especially, the women assist in such labor 

 as planting, hoeing corn, weeding tobacco and raking grain. Sometimes they 

 obtain men's wages, but usually about three-fourths as much. In such work 

 they are often quite as efficient as men. Negro women have been accustomed 

 to all kinds of farm labor, though generally employed in the lighter branches. 

 Throughout the Southern States a large portion of the females among the 

 negroes were accustomed to general farm labor, most of whom now decline it, 

 appearing to regard it as a relic of slavery and not 'suited to ladies.' It is 

 stated of some States that not more than a fourth part as many do outdoor 

 work as formerly. Very little farm work is done by native Americans in all 

 the States of the Ohio Valley and the Lakes, that little being casual assistance 

 in emergencies, as a matter of convenience and sometimes of necessity, as is 

 reported of all other sections of the country. Gardening and fruit picking 

 are preferred, and hop picking, where hops are grown. Immigrants do more 

 outdoor work, 'expecially for a few years after coming here. As they become 

 Americanized they work less on the farm'" (Fig. 13). 



