FARM LABOR IN MASSACHUSETTS, 1921. 25 
The 6-day week is the rule among Massachusetts farmers. Sunday 
and holiday chores and emergency work were expected of farm 
hands on about half of the farms. 
The most common wage rates on the farms studied were: for 
men, $3 per day in harvest, and at other times, $40 or $50 per month 
with board, or $78 per month without board; for women, $2 per day 
at other than harvest time. Harvest-time wages for women were 
largely on a piecework basis. Perquisites additional to wages varied 
greatly in kind and value. Bonus schemes used to encourage effi- 
ciency of labor were of limited application and success. 
In some districts of the State farmers practically never give 
board and room to their help; in others they expect to thus accom- 
modate much or all of their single help. This usually includes 
washing. Practically no farmers provide thus for married couples. 
The social standing of the Massachusetts farm hands depends 
largely upon themselves and on the whole is respectable, especially 
if they are resident in the locality. 
Two-fifths of farm workers interviewed had no savings; one- third 
stated they had bank accounts and almost one-fourth had title to 
real estate. 
A quarter of the farm workers interviewed had no plans for the 
future ; three-fifths intended to stay in farm work, two-thirds of them 
probably to continue as laborers. One in 10 hoped sometime to 
buy farm land. A few already owned land. About 1 worker in 
10 intended leaving farm work, largely to resume former employ- 
ment when possible. American-born and unmarried farm workers 
oftener expressed intention of leaving agriculture than did the 
foreign born and married. 
Considerate treatment of the farm hands in all possible ways, 
many of which need cost the employer little, plays an important 
part in keeping them contented and steady and pays in return of 
satisfactory service. 
Providing adequate decent housing for married farm laborers 
is to some extent becoming rightly recognized as an important 
means of securing and holding good hands. With the housing 
should go privileges for gardening and keeping small livestock. 
Farm life frequently affords little or no chance for recreation and 
becomes very monotonous to farm hands. There is little or nothing 
they can do to create any diversion and often little encouragement 
to do so. 
Intelligent efficiency should be encouraged by example and oppor- 
tunity to learn on the farm, letting the employee know it will be 
appreciated. Farmers should make greater effort in their dull 
seasons to provide steady work for their better-class men, especially 
if no other local regular employment is available. 
