PART-TIME FARMING 



141 



lower wages, but this is compensated by the lower rent they pny for the 

 use of the company houses and land. 



The operator engaged in seasonal ]iart-tiiiie farming is more limited 

 in the oi)portunities for outside employment. His bargaining power is 

 diminished by the fact that he lias to look for a temporary job, and in 

 order to obtain it he must often make some concession in his wages. In 

 fact, in the plants where i)otli tyjies of operators were emjiloyed, the wages 

 of seasonal part-time farmers were from 10 to 20 per cent lower than 

 those paid to the operators working the whole year round. 



Housing Conditions and Costs in Part-Time Farming Enterprises 



Tiie types of houses and housing conditions vary widely in ]iart-time 

 farming and depend in general upon the time of settlement and original 

 sources from which the operators obtained their landholdings. As already 

 mentioned, some of them settled on homesteads which were jireviously 

 o]ierated as regidar farms. The buildings on these holdings are as a rule 

 old and dllajiidated, and often came into possession of ]iart-time farmers 

 after they had housed several generations of farm families. In contrast 

 with this, those who liuilt their own houses li\ed in newer and more 

 attractive quarters, although less sjiacious than the old farndiouses. Many 

 old houses were remodeled and considerably improved in appearance after 

 the operators moved into them. Ordinarily tl)e work of building a new 

 house or remodeling an old one was done liy the o]ierator himself, with 

 occasional outside labor for the tasks where special skill was needed. 

 Most of the construction work as well as general improvements on their 

 landholdings was carried out gradually in s]iare time and as the funds for 

 materials became available. 



The average value of all houses was $2,074 in Lowell area and .i^2,.5.'59 

 in Taunton area. Almost two-thirds of all houses in botli areas came 

 within the range of values between .fl,000 and $.3,000. There were only 

 two houses in each area valued at .$.'5,000 or over. (Table 42.) 



Table 42. — Value of houses. 



Lowell area 



Taunton area 



Per eent 



2. It 



26.2 



35.7 



26.2 



7.1 



2.h 



ino.o 



The average anniuil cost of houses is shown in Table 4.3. The o]iera- 

 tors who moved into their own houses from tiie city seldom eflfected any 

 savings in the annual cost of their rent. Most of them paid a rent in the 

 city which was either equal to or lower than the expenses assumed in the 

 maintenance of an owned house. The main reason for moving into the 

 country was not so much to save on the cost of the house as to obtain 

 better housing conditions for about the same expenditure. As may be 

 judged from the relation between tlie number of rooms and the numl)er 



