this kind is to the upper San Joaquin for the grape harvest and to Sacramento to spend the slack winter months. But as the industries are carried on migratory labor is indispensable to equalize the supply and to give more than casual employment." "White men" have not served well as migratory laborers.

66

Some idea has been given of the adverse conditions (as regards health, transportation facilities, etc.) under which those who work in the less well settled of the communities must live. "White men are averse to working there even at high wages. To what has already been said concerning these adverse conditions a word may be added concerning the matter of board and lodging. In the more recently settled communities the lodging facilities, while new, are very temporary affairs. On the larger ranches and camps" they are rough, unbattened, frame structures raised 5 or 6 feet above the ground. Men "bunk" in beds "boarded up" and in long rows on either side of the aisle, many men to a room. In the better-settled communities and on the older ranches the usual bunk house built for Chinese is found. The Asiatics are boarded by the Chinese or Japanese tenant or else board themselves. "White men" desire better lodging accommodations and ordinarily will not board themselves. To meet their demands with reference to board and lodg ing would involve expense and would be inconvenient.

Because of the conditions which obtain and the rise in wages due to the diminishing numbers of Chinese and Japanese there is a very general desire expressed for a further immigration of Asiatic labor. This desire is almost invariably expressed in the specific form of a recommendation that Chinese should be permitted to immigrate, not to exceed a certain number (say 40,000), after which the exclusion law would again become effective, or not to exceed a certain number per year for an indefinite period.

• The variations by months in the number of laborers employed by ranchers in three important communities on the Sacramento, and by these ranchers in the three communities combined, are shown by the following tabular statement. The numbers given by the ranchers are mere approximations:

Of course the variations between the minimum and maximum numbers employed at different times on a given ranch are much greater. Adding the minimum and maximum numbers employed by 17 ranchers in one fruit-growing section, the totals are 53 and 218. The extreme variations averaged, therefore, about four to one.

CHAPTER III.

JAPANESE FARMERS OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA."

[For General Tables see pp. 784 to 797.]

SURVEY OF THE GROWTH OF JAPANESE FARMING IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

In Los Angeles County in 1909 more than 450 farms and smaller tracts of land used for agricultural purposes were cultivated by Japanese. In several branches of production they constitute the majority of the producers. The extensive holdings and the rapid advance of the Japanese farmers combine, with other things, to make a study of the situation in this county important.

Small farming has come to predominate in Los Angeles County for with the rapid growth of the local population and the improvement in communication with other places, the market for its products has rapidly expanded. The estimated value of fruits, berries, vegetables, and nuts produced in 1908 was $8,377,910; the value of other field crops, chiefly wheat, hay, and sugar beets, was $5,333,082. Poultry raising and dairying are also important branches of industry, the value of the poultry products being estimated at $1,079,401, of dairy products at $3,148,181. The total value of the vegetables produced was $1,104,600, of berries $594,000, of potatoes $89,500, of citrus fruits $4,438,553, of English walnuts $1,074,484, of sugar beets $450,000, of grapes $412,200, of wines $766,500.

Fruit, grape, berry, and sugar-beet growing and vegetable gardening involve much hand labor. Most of such work in Los Angeles County is now done by Japanese, though in the beet fields, orchards, and vineyards they share the hand work with the Mexicans. The Japanese for some years have constituted the larger part of the temporary, and an increasing part of the regular, help employed in orange and lemon groves, orchards, and vineyards. They perform nearly all of the labor in the berry patches and the greater part of that in the vegetable gardens. Moreover, as landowning or as tenant farmers, they produce most of the berries and the greater part of the vegetables grown in Los Angeles County. Besides this, they conduct numerous nurseries, while they also engage extensively in the growing of flowers, and to some extent in the raising of poultry and pigs.

• The situation was investigated by two agents of the Commission. In addition to general data collected at different places visited, detailed information for schedules was obtained from 68 representative Japanese farms. In this report the more general facts are first presented, followed by such details as are of importance. The latter are taken from the schedules mentioned. The 68 farms are roughly one-seventh of the total number; their acreage, oneeighth of the total estimated acreage controlled by Japanese tenant and landowning farmers.

Report of the State Agricultural Society, 1907-8, pp. 96-7.

As yet they grow little citrus fruit. They find little place either as laborers or farmers in general agriculture. The same is true of the dairy industry.

The kind of farming engaged in by Japanese landowners and tenants is very well indicated by the table following which, though not entirely accurate, serves the purpose for which it is here employed very well.

This table is based upon the data given in the Japanese-American Yearbook, for the year 1909. Unfortunately data are not given for a few of the places in the county where Japanese are known to be farming on their own account. However, the omitted acreage is probably not more than one-tenth of the whole. The number of farms and the total area are, it has been found in several localities visited, reported with a fair degree of accuracy. The data relating to the crops grown, however, are not so accurate. No doubt the errors and exaggerations largely offset each other so that the totals given are of value. It may be added that the data given in the publication mentioned above are the name of the owner or tenant, the size of his holding, and the crop or crops grown. In this connection it should be stated that, according to the reports secured from the Los Angeles markets and commission men, the Japanese devote about 1,200 acres to the production of berries and about 4,000 acres to the production of vegetables. This estimated total of 5,200 acres is considerably larger than the 4,098.5 shown in the table for the localities indicated.

From this table it is seen that some 200 or more of the Japanese farmers were in 1909 growing strawberries not only as their main, but usually as their exclusive, commercial crop. The acreage reported is in excess of one-fourth of the entire area accounted for. Just what proportions of this acreage are devoted to the growing of strawberries and of blackberries, loganberries, and raspberries, it is impossible to say. However, that devoted to the others is very small as compared to that devoted to strawberries. Considerably more than half of the total acreage reported was devoted to the growing of potatoes, onions, peas, beans, cabbage, celery, cauliflower, carrots, and various other kinds of vegetables. The figures given for nurseries are inadequate, for perhaps the larger part of the acreage so used is not reported. Though the acreage so employed is not large, a rather large number of Japanese are engaged in the production of flowers for the Los Angeles market. They also give considerable attention in one or two localities to the raising of pigs and poultry. On the other hand only one orange ranch of 10 acres, only 120 acres of sugar beets, and less than 100 acres of hay are reported as being controlled by Japanese owners or tenants.

At this point it may be as well to present a second table showing the number of farms and their acreage owned, leased for cash rentals, and leased for a share of the crop, with the total number and acreage, for the several localities or districts indicated. This table is based upon the same data as the one presented above, and so is not complete. However, the data collected from most of these communities would indicate that it is fairly complete and fairly accurate for the localities mentioned.

TABLE 19.--Tenure of land by Japanese in Los Angeles County in 1909.

The number of tenants leasing for a share of the crop is now small, while the landowners are few and their combined acreage less than 5

• One thousand two hundred and twenty-eight, besides a share of the 231 devoted to berries and vegetables and a smaller share of the 406 acres devoted to miscellaneous crops.

The number of share tenants and the acreage controlled by them as reported in the table have been found to be too small.