-2- 



Ei£;hty-four farT.ers will need extra help in June a:id July and the 

 reported need is 2.87 workers. Ninety-four of these are needed on vegetable 

 farms, 67 on farms rhere livestock is raised, 37 on poultry farms and 25 each 

 on dairy and fruit farms, 21 on diversified livestock farms and 18 where only 

 crops are produced. The labor situation is serious on all types of farms 

 'but at the present time it seems to be most serious on dairy farms or where 

 the dairy-crop combination of farming is carried on. 



Farmers are meeting the labor situation in various ways: 30^^ by re- 

 ducing farm operations, 25^ by shifting to other crops v/hich require less la- 

 bor and 32/^ have bou£h-c new machinery. Seventy percent of the farmers re- 

 gard the situation as serious at the present time and 8i% feel that it v.-ill 

 become more serious during the summer. 



The Massachusetts State Employment Service is cooperating in every 

 way possible in ivorking out the farm labor problem. They have registered 

 over 5500 school boys who are willing to work on farms. In April, the Ser- 

 vice placed 152 agricultural v;orkers throughout the State and 107 during the 

 month of L'ay, The Employment Service csui and will render valuable help through 

 its 35 offices in the State, 



It is very important that farmers make their labor needs known to 

 the Employment Service as early as possible. This is particularly true for 

 fruit grovrers, market gardeners and cranberry growers where a relatively 

 large quantity of labor is needed. Growers should contact the manager of 

 their local employment office now and tell him exactly what their needs are. 

 He will then do his best to provide workers. Your county agent has a list 

 of the employment offices in the State. The services of these offices are 

 free to both the farmers and the farm workers, R, E. Moser 



Fruit for the Soldier 



This summer the United States must be prepared to feed an army of 

 about one and one-half million men. This is a consuming unit comparable in 

 size to the city of Detroit. This vast army is scattered around the country 

 in a nuffiber of separate posts. Instead of having to feed the city of Detroit, 

 it means the task rof feeding 30 or more cities of the size of Kalamazoo, 

 Michigan. Translated into dollars, the increase in the army size means the 

 Government will spend at the rate of about •'^■235,000,000 a year to feed its 

 soldiers. Approximately v35,000,000 will be spent for fresh fruits and ve- 

 getables. This amounts to nearly C'100,000 every day for fresh produce. 



Men in our army are apparently eating more apples per capita than 

 civilians. The same is probably true of many other fruits and vegetables. 

 In other \vords, the soldiers in the United States are enjoying a far better 

 diet than in some other countries in the v;orld. In Germany, for example, it 

 is v;ell known that not only fats but fruits and vegetables are needed to main- 

 tain national efficiency and restore vitsanins and minerals lost in two years 

 of unbalanced diet. The importance of the fruit industry in national defense 

 is brought out in a recent editorial in the Aiicrican Fruit Grower, The edi- 

 torial contains this statement: "For the want of fruit, Germany may lose 

 the war. Orchards of America are needed to keep our military man power effi- 

 cient and active and to develop the health and strength of the great body 

 of American youth being trained for military service," IVe must not, of course, 

 limit ourselves to the products of the orchard. Small fruits and vegetables 



