78 



READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



" The most common labor with board is worth from $50 to $75 

 a year. A higher quality, in which some care and responsibility 

 are added, is worth $100 to $120." 1 A similar report from 

 Richmond, Massachusetts, made in the same year, states : " Men 

 get from ten to sixteen dollars per month and boarded, for six 

 months commencing in April." 2 



On the period from 1866 to 1899, I quote from a report of 

 the Department of Agriculture, 3 as follows : 



WAGES OF FARM LABOR PER MONTH, BY YEAR OR SEASON, 

 WITH BOARD, BY YEARS AND BY GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS* 



1 U.S. Patent Office Report, 1849-1850, p. 186. 



2 Ibid., p. 92. 



3 Division of Statistics, Misc. Bulletin No. 22, p. 16. 



4 The geographical divisions used in this table " are composed as follows : 

 Eastern States Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, 

 Connecticut; Middle States New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware; 

 Southern States Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, 

 Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Indian Territory, 

 Arkansas, Tennessee; Western States West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Michi- 

 gan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, 

 South Dakota, North Dakota; Mountain States Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, 



