242 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



67. DECLINE IN WOMEN'S WORK 1 

 BY GEORGE K. HOLMES 



The outdoor labor of women on farms has undergone immense 

 reduction within a generation or two. In 1871 this department 

 investigated the subject in all parts of the country, with results that 

 may be found in the report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for 

 1871. The summary of that investigation is printed below: 



In New England very little regular labor in the fields is performed 

 by women. The variety of indoor employments is such as to furnish 

 work of a light and varied character, requiring every degree of skill. 

 Yet in haying, laborers being scarce, the wives and daughters of 

 farmers sometimes aid in spreading and raking hay. In planting, in 

 a few cases girls are wont to aid in "dropping" corn or other seeds 

 planted in hills or drills. 



Women sometimes assist in milking, but not so generally as in 

 former generations. In the care of poultry they still have by far a 

 greater share. One report states that in some districts in Vermont 

 one-twentieth of the farm work is done by women. In Lincoln 

 County, Maine, the correspondent writes that "female outdoor labor 

 is unknown incompatible with New England institutions." 



Girls are almost exclusively employed in hop picking wherever 

 hops are grown, their nimble fingers rendering them superior to men 

 or boys; but they usually receive but one-fourth the wages of men 

 in the hopyard. In Barns table County, Massachusetts, the work of 

 setting out cranberry vines, weeding them, and picking the fruit is 

 mostly done by women, and they obtain for setting and weeding 

 10 to 12 cents per hour, the same rate paid to men, and \\ to 2 cents 

 per quart for picking, in which they average ij bushels per day. 

 Women are more efficient than men at this labor. 



Canadian women, and occasionally Irish, hire out or work on 

 shares in different parts of New England, though the number employed 

 is not large, and they will undertake nearly all kinds of farm work. 

 "Many of them are as smart as the men," but as a rule they are less 

 efficient and receive proportionately less pay. 



Similar customs prevail in Ne,w York, comparatively little out- 

 door service being rendered by American-born women. In tying 

 hopvines and picking hops, in which celerity in digital manipulation 



'Adapted from "Supply of Farm Labor," Bulletin 94, Bureau of Statistics, 

 United States Department of Agriculture, 1912, pp. 27-28. 



