-4- 



T^e, in VTorcester County, recruited over 1,300 pickers last year which 

 consisted of men. women and boys. This year, however, v/e are trying to recruit 

 only men. 



Again this year, lYar Ration Boards are allowing extra mileage to and 

 from th'3 orchards for pickers v/ho will transport other pickers. Y/e have forms 

 that the grower vfill have to sign, stating — that the picker is working for 

 him, and the trips made per day covering a certain amount of mileage from city 

 to orchard. 



We are in hopes of getting British sailors to go out and pick for 

 seven to ten days at a time. Grov/ers who can use this help v/ill have to board 

 and house these men. It would be a good policy for anyone *rho may want the 

 British sailors to start thinking of camps or places v/here they could house" 

 these, men. 



The growers should lot the County Extension Service knor; their needs 

 as to the number of pickers that will be necessary to harvest the' crop, so 

 that v/e may recruit sufficient help if possible, 



— -John A. Gatti 



Emergency Farm Labor Ass't, 

 Vfo re ester County 



YOUTH IN AGRICULTURE 



If there is any one word which we will have reas')n to remember for 

 years to c )me, I think it is "Youth." A short while ago we felt a boy, unless 

 he was old enougii to vote, was of little value, rather limited in experience, 

 and could not except in rare instances, be utilized efficiently. IVe seldom 

 stop to think of the remarkable contribution the yo-origstai-s of today are mak- 

 ing tovmrd the preservation of our Country. Without ''Youth." as we know it 

 today, v;c could not operate our tremendously fast and efficient types of fine 

 machinery; in the field of Industry and the nev;er developments, such as radar, 

 plastics, and others, nearly all of which are carried on by our Youth, 



This is equally true in Agriculture. Without our youngsters it would 

 have been impossible to plant, grow, and harvest our record-breaking crops of 

 the past two years. Here in our County of Hampden v:e have had hundreds of 

 these youngsters doing men's jobs. Last year over tv;o thousand different 

 young individuals worked on our farms. There are still hundreds this year 

 carrying on the sarae i/vay. It is not uncomiaon to see individuals belonging 

 to this youth mass as young as eight or ten years old driving some of our 

 small tractors and other equipment utilized on the farms which, in some cases, 

 cannot be operated at all by the fathers and older men. 



This is also true in some of our orchards in Hampden County. Some 

 of us take it as a matter of course to see youngsters picking and thinning ap- 

 ples and doing other operations around the orchard. The youngsters have taken 

 readily to this type of work although it is a little more difficult than pos- 

 sibly work in the market gardens, 



V/'e can all think of plenty of youngsters v/ho failed on the job; others. 



