BULLETIN 1220, U. B. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Most of the farm workers hired by Massachusetts farmers are men, 
especially when hired by the season (Table 3) - 1 Considerable numbers 
of women and minors are hired for harvest work, except on dairy and 
livestock and general farms. Berry picking and sorting and some 
tobacco work are within their strength and ability, as is also consid- 
erable work on market-garden crops. 
Table 3. — Casual and noncasual employees on various types of farms by seasons. 
Type of farm. 
Season and kind of employees. 
Cran- 
berry 
bog. 
Straw- 
berry. 
Dairy 
and 
live 
stock. 
Gen- 
eral. 
Market 
garden. 
Tobacco 
and 
onions. 
All 
farms. 
At other than harvest time: 
Casual employees— 
76 
8 
2 
3 
38 
30 
5 
2 
23 
172 
13 
3 
5 
i 
11 
84 
2 
6 ! 43 
37 
24 
196 
Noncasual employees- 
123 
192 
2 
5 
466 
16 
34 
441 
25 
40 
286 
1,508 
43 
2 
81 
Total noncasual employees 
123 

199 
516 
506 
288 
312 
1,632 
Total employees at other than harvest time. . 
207 
2 
205 
559 
543 
1,828 
At harvest time: 
Casual employees- 
Men 
812 
229 
64 
50 
125 
25 
196 
3 
10 
739 
46 
137 
335 
150 
318 
868 
288 
88 
3,000 
841 
642 
1,105 
200 
209 
922 
803 
1,244 
4,483 
Noncasual employees- 
123 
228 
2 
7 
512 
24 
38 
445 
32 
38 
450 
1,758 
58 
Minors 
2 
85 
123 

200 - 
237 
574 
515 
452 
1,901 
Total employees at harvest time 
1,228 
446 
1,496 
1,318 
1,696 
6, 382 
Outside of harvest time, nine-tenths of the farm labor used was 
employed for much or all of the growing season; in harvest time, 
casual 2 employees made up seven-tenths of hired w r orkers. 
The season of employment of casual labor is largely from July to 
October; somewhat over half of the farmers reporting hired this 
class of labor. The majority of employing farmers hired season 
labor; seven-tenths of those reporting stated they hired during six or 
more months; nearly half those reporting hired all year. The length 
of time and season during which workers are hired depends greatly 
upon the farming operations conducted. The majority of dairy and 
livestock farmers, general farmers, and market gardeners hire some 
1 The returns from which this table was made were often unsatisfactory in that many employers failed to 
distinguish between "men" and "minors," considering minor boys to be adults if in their late teens or 
doing an adult's work regardless of age, which often was not known to the employers. Also, two types of 
schedules were used, differing in data asked as to number and kind of employees; this affects the tabulation 
of employees of tobacco and onion farms, among whom the less comprehensive schedule was generally 
employee!. Furthermore totals of this table do not agree with those of Tables 1 and 2 because some 
farmers reported totals only without details: reports thus incomplete could not be used here. 
2 Casual employees, those employees hired for a short time only: noncasual employees, those hired steadily 
for periods of a month or more. 
