Diversified and Specialized Farming 33 



ried on to a limited extent and plantations were 

 restricted, the low price of grapes made no seri- 

 ous inroads on the income. Where all the land 

 was given up to grapes, work was intermittent, 

 the farmer being overtasked at one season of 

 the year and idle at another. The demoralizing 

 effect on the farmers and their families of this 

 army of unrestrained youths and loungers of 

 the city, which, for a brief period, swarms in 

 the districts devoted to specialized crops, as 

 grapes, berries and hops, is marked. 



The baleful result of raising a single or few 

 products in extended districts may be seen in 

 California and the great wheat districts of the 

 northwest. In such localities there is little or no 

 true home life, with its duties and restraints ; 

 men and boys are herded together like cattle, 

 sleep where they may, and subsist as best they 

 can. The work is hard, and from sun to sun for 

 two or three months, when it abruptly ceases, 

 and the workmen are left to find employment as 

 best they may, or adopt the life and habits of 

 the professional tramp. It is difficult to name 

 anything more demoralizing to men, and espe- 

 cially to boys, than intermittent labor ; and the 

 higher the wages paid and the shorter the period 

 of service, the more demoralizing the effect. If 

 there were no other reason for practicing a some- 

 what diversified agriculture, the welfare of the 



