1012. 
OUR IMMIGRANTS AS FARM LABORERS. 
One can better understand our immigrants after he 
has seen the conditions under which they live in their 
native land. Hungary is one of the leading countries 
from which immigrants come to America, and in re¬ 
cent years the number coming from this one coun¬ 
try has averaged considerably over 100,000 per year. 
Recently I had an opportunity to spend two weeks 
making a tour through Hungary studying the agri¬ 
cultural conditions of the country, which, by the way, 
is naturally the richest agricultural land of Europe 
and is very similar to the Mississippi Valley. I took 
particular pains everywhere we went to inquire about 
the immigration to America and to talk to the people 
who had been in America. 
In the first place, I found that practically all of the 
immigrants who go to America come from the Agri¬ 
cultural class. They have always worked at farm 
work and know how to do agricultural labor better 
than anything else. In the second place, the Hun¬ 
garian, as a rule, does not go to the United States to 
become a citizen, but simply to earn enough money 
to enable him to come back to his native land and 
buy a small home. The wages of the agricultural 
laboring class, such as go as immigrants, 
are 30 to 40 cents per day in their home 
land, and for them to go to America and 
earn $1.50 to $2 per day is as enticing as 
it was for the gold hunters to go to Cal¬ 
ifornia in 1849. The conditions under 
which the agricultural laboring class live 
as a rule is distressing. In fact it has 
been so bad that the Hungarian govern¬ 
ment has passed a law compelling all land 
owners to provide dwellings with at least 
three rooms for each family employed by 
the year, but realizing what a revolution 
this means, they have given the landown¬ 
ers 10 years in which to conform to the 
law. That is, the law does not go into 
effect for 10 years after it was passed. 
On one estate Which I visited an old 
man who had been director for many 
years, but now pensioned, was said to be 
greatly beloved by the laborers on the 
estate, because he had done so much for 
them. What he had succeeded in doing 
was to improve their living conditions so 
that not more than one family lived in 
a single room. 
The immigrants, as we know, when 
they reach America, stay in the cities and 
furnish practically no agricultural labor. 
Notwithstanding the fact that they anj 
needed in our agriculture and doubtless 
would make excellent farm hands, there 
are some practical difficulties in using 
them. While it is not impossible to over¬ 
come these difficulties it will save dis¬ 
appointments if they are understood in 
the beginning. The Hungarians, in com¬ 
mon with most other European farmers, 
live together in villages and not on single 
farms as we do in America. When they 
go to a foreign country it is doubly im¬ 
portant they remain together in colonies, 
and it is out of the question to hope to 
have a single family live on a farm as 
laborers. But to be used in agricultural 
work they must be colonized so several 
families may live together, as is done in 
the cities and mining districts. The Hun¬ 
garian immigrant comes to America to earn all the 
money he can, and if he can be given regular work 
will make a faithful, industrious farm laborer. If 
given piece work, so that he is paid according to what 
he does he will put in long hours and turn out an 
immense amount of work. As far as dwelling and 
living is concerned, his needs are simple and his wants 
few. 
More farm labor is needed in every line of agri¬ 
culture, and particularly is this true as our agricul¬ 
ture becomes more intensive. Here is a class of im¬ 
migrants who have always lived in the country and 
who would prefer to do farm work. They are needed 
in agriculture much more than in the city, and the 
problem is to distribute them so as to make them 
available for farm laborers. In the sugar beet dis¬ 
tricts of Europe immense numbers of season farm 
laborers are used. Germany, for example, has 400,000 
wandering laborers, as they call them here, who come 
into the country for six months, live in colonies upon 
the farms or in the different neighborhoods and grow 
and harvest the beet crop at so much per acre. As 
the sugar beet industry increases in the United States, 
the same method will doubtless have to be employed. 
Changed conditions in agriculture are demanding 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
more intensive methods, and more intensive methods 
mean more labor. There are not enough agricultural 
laborers in the country to supply this demand, and 
they must be drawn from the cities or from our for¬ 
eign immigrants. One of the hardest problems of 
farm management at the present time is to adjust our 
systems of farming and labor supply to each other. 
Enough labor can be made available if we can provide 
permanent employment and the necessary living con¬ 
ditions. The most promising source of securing this 
additional farm labor is from the foreign immigrants, 
especially those from such countries as Hungary, but 
they should be taken directly to the country as soon as 
they land, before having an opportunity to become es¬ 
tablished in the cities. H. c. price. 
Germariy. 
ARE OUR HIGH SCHOOLS “HIGH?” 
Here is a course of study that is used by the high 
school here. It is one of the courses prepared or 
suggested by our State University. Any graduate of 
the high school is admitted there without further ex¬ 
amination. Not one in 25 of our graduates go to the 
State University or any other college. We are an 
average country town of about 1,300. Those that fin¬ 
ish the high school go into stores, shops, trades, farms 
and housekeeping. Possibly one-half drift to the 
cities. 
I would like to get out from under the supervision 
of the State University and pflt the high school on a 
more practical basis, something that will be of more 
use for the 2A~. I do not think it is fair to the patrons 
and taxpayers to work for the advancement of the 
one. Let the one go to some other school to prepare 
for college and see if something that will be of use 
can be devised for the 24. Our funds are limited, and 
we do not see our way clear to put in manual train¬ 
ing. The superintendent gives part of his time to the 
high school, and there are two other teachers there. 
For some time past I have not been satisfied with the 
course of studies, but the teachers seem to be in a 
“rut” and can’t see out. Anything recommended by 
the State University is “it” and must be followed. 
I find that I am not alone in this; wherever I go in 
places similar to this the feeling is that there is too 
much theory and not enough practice, that the ad¬ 
vancement of one at the expense of the 24 is not 
right. I cannot see the advantage of Latin, so much 
ancient history, etc., except as an entrance to the col- 
847 
leges. Can you or some of your readers suggest some 
remedy? j. a. f. 
Griggsville, Ill. 
R. N.-Y.—The high school course here mentioned is 
printed as follows: 
COURSE OF STUDY FOR THE HIGH SCHOOL 1911-12. 
FIRST YEAR. 
first semester 
SECOND SEMESTER. 
Algebra 
Algebra 
Physical Geography 
Physiology 
English 1 
English 1 
Latin 
Latin 
SECOND YEAR. 
Plane Geometry 
Plane Geometry 
History of Greece 
History of Rome 
English 2 
English 2 
Caesar 
Caesar 
THIRD YEAR. 
Algebra 
Solid Geometry 
History of England 
Civics 
Physics 
Physics 
English 3 
English 3 
Agriculture 
Economics 
FOURTH YEAR. 
American History 
American Literature 
Itotany 
Zoology 
♦ 'hemistry 
Chemistry 
Reviews 
Advanced Arithmetic 
Much the same 
condition exists in thousands of 
other towns. Therefore we would like a discussion. 
Of course it must be brief in order to find room. 
What appear to be the prevailing faults of 
the high-school curriculum ? 
COOKING SILAGE WITH STEAM. 
For several years I have steamed my 
silage, or rather cooked it, with live 
steam immediately after filling or during 
the process of filling the silo. I have a 
solid concrete silo with concrete top, in 
which I have run a series of inch pipes; 
these pipes are perforated with small 
holes to allow the steam to be equally 
distributed, first on the bottom of the silo 
and again as we fill we insert another se¬ 
ries of pipes about one-third and again 
one-half way up. The pipes are joined 
together with one-quarter elbows and so 
arranged as to form an octagon within 
the silo about two feet from the wall of 
the silo. There is also a set of pipes run¬ 
ning through the center of this octagon; 
the pipe is laid longitudinal and settles 
with the silage; we connect the pipe with 
steam hose through the door of silo with 
steam pipe of thrashing engine. At night 
after first and second days’ cutting, we 
run the engine up close to silo, and hav¬ 
ing an extra engineer to keep up the 
steam all night, we open the valve and 
pour the steam through the pipes into the 
silo and through the fresh silage before 
the freshly cut cornstalks have an oppor¬ 
tunity to heat from their own natural 
condition and confinement. In this way 
we immediately arrest any tendency to¬ 
wards fermentation. Usually it takes us 
three days to fill the silo, and after the 
filling is completed we continue the cook¬ 
ing for about 24 hours; in all, this would 
make 48 hours of cooking on about 130 
tons; we then close up all openings and 
retain the heat just as long as possil^e. 
The condition of the silage when it is 
taken out is in the form of preserved 
corn and fodder, and has a molasses 
smell; is in a measure sweet with no acid 
taste to it, and we use it for cattle, horses, 
hogs and sheep with good results. One great advan¬ 
tage is noted that when exposed to the air, it does 
not deteriorate as does the ordinary silage, and we 
can let a wagonload stand for several days before 
feeding, and it is apparently as wholesome after 
standing that length of time as when first taken 
from the silo; there is also not the waste on top 
of silo when first open, and one need not be obliged 
to feed off three or four inches every day in order 
to avoid wastage. As a rule, we cut our corn when 
passing from the milk into the glazing state; some 
have advocated that we should cut earlier, and while 
the tassel is beginning to shed the pollen, but we have 
never tried it; neither have we tried salting.nor char¬ 
coal. E. D. FUNK. 
McLean Co., Ill. 
It seems that many Americans send to our consul on 
the Island of Malta for Maltese terriers and cats. The 
reply is that the Maltese cat does not exist in Malta—at 
least not of the color known in this country as Maltese. 
According to the statistics of the New York Health 
Department 850 cases of dog bites were reported from 
January 1 to June 30 of the present year. During the 
12 months of 1911, 3,600 persons were bitten by dogs in 
this city. 
FUTURE FARM IMMIGRANTS FROM HUNGARY. Fig. 302. 
HUNGARIAN OXEN—THE NATIONAL FARM TEAM. Fig. 363. 
