liG MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 266 



the added advantage of selling their surplus products directly to consumers, 

 thus performing the functions of both prodticer and distributor. 



With the present tendency to reduce further the working hours in 

 business and industry, and with tiie improvement in transportation facil- 

 ities, the prospects are that part-time farming will continue to increase 

 in many sections of the countr\. The most important factor in fostering 

 its development will be found in t'.ie decentralization of industries. 

 When the industrial plants are brought from the large cities into small 

 towns and villages, a larger number of people will find it possible to com- 

 bine farming with industrial employment. 



CONCLUSIONS 



1. Due to the presence of a large number of part-time farming enter- 

 prises, the importance of agriculture in Massachusetts is much greater 

 both in total output and in land area than is indicated by the Federal 

 Census figures. 



2. There are at least 60,000 farming enterprises in Massachusetts on a 

 part-time basis. 



3. Of the total number of farms in Massachusetts listed by the Fed- 

 eral Census, about .50 per cent are carried on on a part-time basis. 



4. Part-time farming tends to develop either on land submarginal for 

 regular agriculture or on sites important for residential purposes. 



5. Developing largely on submarginal land, part-time farming does 

 not enter into active comi^etition with regular agriculture for the use of 

 land. 



6. At least one-third of the agricultural output in the State comes from 

 part-time farming enterprises. 



7. In communities with decadent agriculture, part-time farming helps 

 to maintain local institutions through increasing tax receipts. 



8. The development of part-time farming goes hand in luind with 

 better transportation facilities, shorter working hours in industry, and 

 location of industrial plants in small towns and rural communities. 



9. Part-time farming secures a certain economic stability for the wage 

 earner and provides better food and liousing conditions for his family. 



10. The indications are that within the next ten or twenty years jnirt- 

 time farming will show further development in the State. 



11. In view of the important jjlace occupied by part-time farming in 

 Massachusetts, any agricultural program ])lanned for the State slu)uld 

 give increased consideration to the problems arising therefrom. 



Publication of this document approved by the Commission on Administration and 



Finance. 



4.500-ll-'30. Ko. 513 



