228 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



come from farms in their mother-country if any reasonable amount 

 of effort is put forth to "assist them to find themselves." 



Reference might also be made to the Jewish farm problems of the 

 Middle Atlantic States, problems which have importance as far west 

 as Wisconsin; and to the Japanese and Chinese agricultural labor 

 problems of the far West and Southwest. There are possibilities here 

 which few people have yet appreciated. The question of demand for 

 seasonal agricultural labor and the possibilities, of continual labor by 

 passing from one industry to another in neighboring districts or fol- 

 lowing the same industry from one part of the country to another 

 are left untouched. 



64. ITALIANS IN AGRICULTURE 1 

 BY ALEXANDER E. CANCE 



Though the immigrants from Italy, since 1900, constitute a rela- 

 tively large and increasing percentage of all immigrants to the United 

 States, and although it is estimated that more than 60 per cent of them 

 came from rural districts in Italy, comparatively few have become 

 farmers in the United States. According to the Twelfth Census, a 

 total of 293,424 male Italians over ten years of age of the first and 

 second generations were engaged in gainful occupations. Of this 

 number, only 18,227, or 6.2 per cent, were engaged in agricultural 

 pursuits. 



The accompanying table gives the number and location of the 

 principal Italian rural settlements in the United States east of the 

 Mississippi River and in Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. 

 Besides these there are a few small groups of market gardeners near 

 large cities in the East and others in the outskirts of western cities. 



The largest and oldest colonies in the East are those in south- 

 eastern New Jersey, on the Pine Barrens. Both North and South 

 Italians are represented at Vineland, and Hammondton is one of the 

 largest and most promising South Italian farm colonies east of the 

 Rocky Mountains. In New England, South Italians engaged in 

 market gardening and truck farming near Providence, Rhode Island, 

 at least as early as 1844. Market gardening has increased in im- 

 portance, and this settlement has been augmented slowly by accre- 

 tions from the industrial population in the vicinity. North Italian 

 farmers have established a settlement near South Glastonbury, Con- 

 necticut, not far from Hartford. The leading occupation there is 



1 Adapted from Reports oj the Immigration Commission, Vol. I, 550-70. 



