FATm LABOfc IX MASSACHUSETTS, 1921. 5 
hands all year. The strawberry growers of Falmouth district hire 
practically no help except pickers in late June and early July, all the 
rest of the work being done by the family. 
On cranberry bogs the greater part of the help is hired in Sep- 
tember and October for picking berries; care of the bogs is given 
attention mostly before blossoming time and after picking time in 
late fall or early winter. Dairy and livestock and general farmers 
comprised nearly half those hiring all the year. The reason for all- 
year employment on this class of farms is partly due to the necessity 
of caring for livestock, and partly to the fact that work is provided by 
successive farm operations on such farms. Market gardeners fre- 
quently have greenhouses for winter operations. Operators of these 
intensively-worked places often plan to provide work for and to keep 
all men who will stay through the winter, but enough leave of their 
own accord to reduce the working forces to the desired numbers in the 
winter. Only a small part of tobacco and onion growers hire all the 
year. Of these, tobacco growers comprise the larger part, because 
quite often large growers run tobacco-sorting shops which furnish 
winter work for all their farm employees and for others. 
METHODS OF OBTAINING FARM EMPLOYEES. 
Most farmers reported getting all their labor locally or within a few 
miles, usually within daily reach of home for the employees. On the 
other hand, most of the cranberry growers and the Falmouth straw- 
berry growers had to obtain labor from more distant points. 
The majority of farmers obtain laborers of or through acquaint- 
ances or employees. Dairy and livestock farmers, general farmers, 
and market gardeners make all the use of employment offices reported. 
Advertising for farm help is mostly done by a few general farmers. 
Those living near large cities tend to use the city daily papers and 
those living in rural districts to use the agricultural press. Many 
Falmouth strawberry growers engage a season's pickers to return the 
next season or themselves hunt up others shortly before the season 
opens. Laborers come looking for work on the majority of the cran- 
berry bogs of southeastern Massachusetts, where it is very common 
for a few Bravas 5 who intend to pick berries to come in from the 
cities just before the picking begins, look over the prospect, and 
report back to their friends. When picking begins the workers flock 
to the bogs, tending somewhat to go to those offering the chances of 
best earnings (the work is mostly on the piecework basis). To a 
limited extent the same thing is true of the strawberry-picking season 
around Falmouth. 
Employment agencies supplying farm help were visited in several 
cities. They are grouped into privately and publicly conducted 
groups; the latter are much less common. Most of the private 
agencies visited stated they furnished all classes of farm help, and 
that ordinary farm hands made up the largest number. One agency 
made an effort to handle only the more experienced reliable help, 
including gardeners, farm managers and workers, and supervisors for 
estates. The Massachusetts Department of Agriculture conducts a 
Portuguese negroes are locally known by the name of " Bravas,'' derived from the name of that Cape 
Verdeisland whence most of those people migrated to this country. 
