140 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 266 



Of almost equal importance is the time at which the operator is re- 

 leased from his work and is able to reach his home in the evening. He 

 must have at his disposal some time before dark to carry on his farming 

 operations. The introduction of daylight saving time in the State, al- 

 though resented by the farming population, is a real boon to those engaged 

 in part-time farming. 



Those engaged in seasonal part-time farming are less dependent upon 

 the length of the working day in extending their farming operations. These 

 operations, consisting largely of the raising of vegetables and other crops, 

 require all his working time through a part of the year, ordinarily five 

 or six months, and leave him almost entirely free for the rest of the year 

 unless he also keeps some live stock. His main problem is to find em- 

 ployment at the end of the farming season. A large industrial plant in 

 the town of Dighton in Taimton area has provided for hiring a number 

 of additional laborers during the winter months, thus giving employment to 

 seasonal operators. Where no such arrangement exists, the seasonal part- 

 time farmer, except in periods of great industrial activity, has considerable 

 difficulty in securing temporary employment. In industrial centers like 

 Lowell and Fall River, the manufacturing plants make no provision for 

 utilizing the labor of seasonal operators, but depend upon a regular supplj^ 

 of labor. It seems, therefore, that in order to acquire greater significance 

 seasonal part-time farming must be accompanied by a general tendency of 

 industrial establishments to move into rural communities with a definite 

 policy of utilizing available seasonal farm labor. The indications are that 

 a number of factors like distribution of cheap power and good means o? 

 transportation will make for a greater decentralization of industries in 

 the near future.* 



The Effect of Part-Time Farming on the Bargaining Power and 

 Employment of Operators 



Although the possession of a small farming enterprise gives the indus- 

 trial laborer a certain economic securit.y, it may place him at a disadvan- 

 tage by limiting his bargaining power or opportunity to find employment. 

 For the regular part-time farmer this condition, however, is found only in 

 the case of general business depression in the entire district in which he 

 lives. Before the advent of the automobile and the general improvement 

 in transportation, those engaged in part-time farming had to depend for 

 their outside employment mo.stly upon the nearby village mill or some 

 other job in the neighborhood. With better means of transportation at 

 their disposal they can now travel greater distances to the place of work. 

 Most of the operators in the investigated areas were employed outside of 

 their own communities, many of them at points more than five miles from 

 the place of their residence. Those who work in city industries ordinarily 

 obtain the same conditions of employment as city laborers, and the fact that 

 tiiey are engaged in part-time farming has no effect on their bargaining 

 power or the permanency of their employment. In small village plants, how- 

 ever, a tendency has been observed to pay lower wages to the operators 

 who live in the community and are dependent upon local employment. 

 Likewise part-time farmers who live in factory houses receive somewhat 



'■> Bradford, E. S. The influence of cheap power on factory location and on farming. 

 Ann. Anier. Acad. Polit. and Social Sci. 1925. 



