FARM LABOR EBT MASSACHUSETTS, 1921. 15 
and livestock farms the amount is considerable. Farmers preparing 
loads of vegetables for early Monday market often do some of 
that work Sundays, requiring help of their employees a few hours at 
the most. Strawberry growers seldom pick on Saturday or Julv 3. 
but pick berries all day Sunday or July 4 and ship late in the after- 
noon for the next day's market. 
Holiday work required is usually similar to Sunday work. In 
many cases, whether or not they work on holidays depends upon the 
employees themselves ; often the holidays mean less to the men than 
other days which they can take off as desired. Some foreigners pay 
no attention to American holidays, but insist upon taking those of 
their native country, both political and religious. 
WAGES, PERQUISITES, AND LIVING ACCOMMODATIONS FOR FARM 
EMPLOYEES. 
Average farm wages in 1921 were decidedly lower than those of 
1920. Farm employers manifested general satisfaction at the decline, 
but employees were inclined to believe wages fell faster than the cost 
of living. Wages without board in 1920 ran up to So. 50 and $6 per 
day, and in one district of general farms some employers stated that 
not only were they compelled to carry their men from and to their 
homes morning and night, but also at noon because the men refused 
to carry their dinners. On Marthas Vineyard Island, however. 
wages still held to the 1920 scale. Agriculture there is largely 
dependent upon and sharply competitive for labor with summer 
resorts, and on the island the effects of prosperity and depression are 
not so quickly felt as on the mainland. The amount of money spent 
by patrons of such summer resorts as those of this island is greatly 
affected by their earnings of previous months: hence the prosperity 
of the resorts and adjacent localities tends to lag behind that of the 
mainland of the State. 
WAGES AT OTHER THAN HARVEST TTME. 
The common farm-wage rate for men. without board, was S3 per 
day at times other than harvest; it was paid by practically half the 
farmers reporting. (Table 11). Many men considered worth less 
were paid less. This practice was common among the cranberry 
growers, where Bravas were paid 25 to 50 cents per day less than 
white men. As three-quarters of the cranberry work is done by 
Bravas, the average rates shown in Table 11 for cranberry work 
should probably be lower. Rates up to S4 per day for work at other 
than harvest time were not uncommon among dairymen and market 
gardeners. 
WAGES AT HARVEST TIME. 
In harvest season, wages as a whole averaged only slightly above 
those of the rest of the year, the most common day wage rate without 
board for men still being S3. Wages for cranberry work showed the 
highest average increase, due largely to the fact that wages at picking 
time are largely on the piecework basis at so much per measure of 
berries picked. Pickers working with the " scoop often double 
their usual daily earnings at that time. Wages on tobacco and onion 
farms barely held their own on account of oversupply of labor in the 
Connecticut Valley. The tendency to offer and accept work at even 
lower rates than earlier in the season was quite noticeable. 
