TRUCK-FARM LABOR IN NEW JERSEY, 1922 
some Philadelphia relief workers consider it decidedly more healthful 
and desirable in summer than the city homes of these families. 
The season's farm work over, the Italians return to their city 
tenement districts. Prominent among their winter occupations are 
common labor and home work taken in from factories. Some Italian 
families seem to do little work winters, partly because many find our 
winter climate very trying. 
The Italians seem to be usually thrifty and saving. Many have 
saved money and some have bought their homes. Some families can 
live all winter upon the summer's earnings. Others that have not 
been so fortunate borrow from friends and at the end of the next 
summer pay their debts, often only to repeat what amounts to an 
annual financial cycle. Some poor families, particularly those in 
Fig. 4. — Typical Italian farm buildings near Hammonton. N. J. Crop production is 
carried into the very dooryard. Buildings are frequently unkempt in appearance and 
their furnishings and conveniences for even the farm family are of barest kind among 
most farmers of this class 
which the husband and father can not earn sufficient for support, are 
forced to appeal to charities during the winter. 
The second generation of Italians are becoming Americanized. 
Fewer of the mature young people, especially women, will work on 
farms. They are demanding better living conditions on farms. 
The young women are insisting that their husbands assume all the 
burden of family support. 
Some parts of Xew Jersey have resident Italians who are rising 
from the laborer stage to that of farm operator. Many of these men 
and their families are farming land which Americans had considered 
too poor, and are making their living at it. Some of the best farmers 
around Hammonton are Italians (fig. -±). These people are gradu- 
ally adopting American standards of life: they are recognizing the 
value of education for their sons, but are not so quick to see it for 
their daughters. The women are not compelled to work so much in 
the fields as formerly. As a whole, they are becoming increasingly 
assertive socially and politically, especially if educated. 
10CU33 — 25 2 
