TRUCK-FARM LABOR IN NEW JERSEY, 1922 31 
per month; rates of $30 or $40 were equally common and together 
made up a third of the reports. In southern New Jersey both wage 
rates tended to drop below the State average. Xo decided differences 
in wage rates were shown between different types of farms. 
Payment of wages to noncasual hands was usually by the month, 
though often by the week. Occasionally in harvest season a farmer 
had to change the usual method to a piecework basis to make the 
employee's wages equal to those paid casual workers. 
The wages of foremen were usually quoted without board and the 
average rate was $97.40 per month : with board, $72.54 was the 
average. In half the cases actual wages were lower than the average, 
often decidedly so. Perquisites given were frequently of consider- 
able additional value. 
An occasional farmer was found to be paying a bonus or making 
other inducements of value to encourage greater efficiency or to hold 
his workers. Sometimes this took the form of an extra cash payment- 
ranging from $50 to $100 at the end of the season or year to those 
who remained on the job. The practice of paying a higher wage 
rate to the more efficient workers was occasionally reported. Pay- 
ment of wages upon a piecework basis was sometimes made for the 
same purpose. Occasionally a bonus system based upon a percent- 
age of farm profits was reported. 
PERQUISITES 
The majority of hired farm workers received no perquisites in 
addition to their wages. Those received varied considerably, accord- 
ing to type of laborers employed, kind of farm upon which they were 
working, and local custom. Local American laborers sometimes re- 
ceived perquisites denied foreign-born or casual workers. On the 
other hand, as they were often at a distance from home the casual 
workers had to have rough shelters and limited privileges. General 
farmers could often supply a variety of farm products to their em- 
ployees in contrast to specializing farmers, who could frequently 
supply much less. 
Few reporting farmers in the districts studied gave perquisites to 
day laborers; car fares or transportation constituted most of those 
reported. Some farmers gave one or two meals daily. 
The interviewed farm employees included both day hands and 
month hands. The latter received perquisites more frequently than 
did the former. As a whole, almost half of the workers reported 
that they received perquisites, three out of five of whom received 
board and room; laundry work as done in the farm home was in- 
cluded half the time that rooms were provided by employers. In 
Gloucester and Monmouth Counties the giving of a room without 
board was not uncommon, apprying mostly to harvest labor and to 
foreign-born labor in particular. 
One-fourth of the farmers reporting upon the item gave rent of 
some house (fig. 9) or shack (fig. 10) to employees and valued this 
privilege at an average of $13.43 monthly. The range of such values 
from $3 to $50 indicates the wide variety of these accommodations. 
Values were decidedly below the average in southern New Jersey and 
were highest near Xew York City. 
