In literacy the North Italians rank much higher than the South Italians. Among the 15 families from which data were secured there were 35 foreign-born North Italians 10 years of age or over. Eighteen of the 19 females and 10 of the 16 foreign-born males could read and write some language. (General Table 238.) With a single exception, the illiterates were found among the older immigrants. Two of 17 immigrant males and 4 of 21 immigrant females could not speak English. While 2 of the females who could not speak English had been in this country less than five years, 1 male and 1 female had been here between five and nine years, and an equal number more than ten years. Though the great majority speak English, only a small minority can read and write the language, and these are almost without exception those who immigrated when children. (General Tables 233 to 236.)

The foreign and native-born children of the Italian farmers are usually given good public-school educations. This is indicated by the fact that all of the 28 native-born 10 years of age or over can read and write English, and that all but 1 of 23 between 6 and 15 years of age were attending school. (General Tables 237 and 240.) Some of these children are sent to high school upon the completion of the course of the rural graded school.

Of

Two tenant and two landowning farmers, the latter with more than $12,000 and $17,000 each, subscribed for no newspaper or serial publication, and four others subscribed for only one newspapera fact indicative of thrift and of a low standard of culture. the 11 households subscribing for one or more newspapers, 3 had only one each and these were printed in Italian. Of the remaining 8, 4 subscribed for newspapers printed in English only, while 4 subscribed for two or more, some printed in English and some in Italian.

The Italians of the farming class have not intermarried with other races to any great extent. Four of the 15 farmers investigated were married previous to their immigration; of the others all save 1 married immigrant Italian women within a comparatively few years of their arrival in this country. The natives born of immigrant Italian parents, however, more frequently intermarry with persons of the non-Italian races. Yet of 7 Italian-American females of the 15 families investigated, who had married, 6 have North Italian immigrants and only 1 an American as husbands. Of the 3 ItalianAmerican males who have married, 2 married Italian women and 1 an American. It is interesting to note also that the majority of the women had married young, for few of them were yet 21 years of age.

While the majority of Italians are Catholics, a number of these families attend churches of other denominations. But in this locality there is no distinct Italian church where the services are in the native tongue. These Italians have no fraternal organizations of their own. It is true, however, that one or two belong to benevolent societies which have their headquarters in San Francisco. A much larger number are members of American organizations in the near-by towns. Six of the farmers investigated belong to the Druids, 1 to the Odd Fellows, while 1 was a member of the Foresters of America.

This small group of North Italian families stands to-day as typically representative of partially assimilated foreigners. Most of them have been in the United States for many years; some of them came as children and have attended American public schools. Since living on their farms, they have been scattered throughout the community and brought into frequent contact with other races in business, in church, and in social life. Moreover, there has been little prejudice against them when living under these conditions, so that the process of assimilation has been rendered less difficult than in most communities.

CHAPTER X.

ITALIAN VEGETABLE GARDENERS OF SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY. [For General Tables see pp. 856 to 863.]

INTRODUCTION.

While San Francisco draws its supply of the coarser vegetables, asparagus, and celery from many farms conducted by various races in several counties of California, most of the "green vegetables" are obtained through the Colombo market, which is an Italian organization, located at Pacific and Clark streets. This market is maintained by "The San Francisco Gardeners and Ranchers' Association," which was organized for that purpose in 1874 and is incorporated under the laws of the State of California. In this market the 88 stalls are occupied by Italian growers. These growers bring their produce to the market the night before or the morning of its sale. They first fill the orders of the various storekeepers and commission men which have been filed with the superintendent of the market, after which they sell to all comers. The sale of vegetables is closely regulated by the rules of the association. Each week it fixes the prices at which produce may be sold. It also limits sale to wholesalers.

Though some of the Italian gardeners ship produce to other cities and towns and though some sell in San Francisco outside of the Colombo market, most of their produce is marketed through this institution. The acreage controlled by the producers is estimated at 8,000. The majority of the gardeners have small holdings, from a few to 25 acres, but perhaps as many as 25 have large ranches, some of them containing as many as 250 acres, devoted chiefly to growing the coarser vegetables, such as cabbage and cauliflower. The total number of men engaged in gardening, all Italians, may be roughly estimated as 1,100 or 1,200.

The larger number of the Italian gardens are located in the southern end of San Francisco County and the northern end of San Mateo County, not far from San Francisco Bay and within from 5 to 15. miles of the market. A smaller number, however, are on the other side of the mountain range, separating San Francisco Bay from the ocean, are farther removed from the market, and send their vegetables by train on a steam railway recently completed. Wherever located, however, the conditions among the gardeners do not materially differ from those which are found among those located in the southern end of San Francisco County. In the autumn of 1908 an agent of the Commission collected data from 24 of the farms. there located, selected as typical of the larger number, and from some of the 79 farmers occupying them with their families.

The small farms occupied by the Italian gardeners in this locality are scattered among the several small towns which are a part of the city and county of San Francisco. They occupy the parts of small valleys and the slopes which have not been appropriated by industrial

establishments, or by the railroads for tracks and yards, or as residence sites, while the numerous hills, in so far as they are not used for residence purposes or held as plotted tracts, are used as pasture. Though a few of the North Italians, chiefly from Genoa and Parma. here settled are producing flowers, the majority are engaged in truck gardening. The land employed is all irrigated, either from artesian wells or from the small streams flowing through the valleys, and the climate is such that vegetables of some kind are being raised and marketed throughout the year. On some of the small holdings as many as 40 varieties are grown, including a number of Italian vegetables produced to meet the demand of the numerous Italian restaurants and households of San Francisco. By irrigating and heavily fertilizing the land the truck gardens have been made very productive, and by working long hours and practicing thrift most of the farmers have been able to live comfortably and to accumulate considerable property. Few of them, however, have purchased the land they till, for, lying near the city, it has a great speculative value, and when purchased the investment is too large for profitable farming. Hence the majority of the farmers are tenants. Moreover, they usually farm in groups of partners, numbering from 2 to 11. Each year new men appear as laborers, while some of those who have been previously working for wages purchase a share in a partnership or form a new one and become producers on their own account. Most of the recruits come from San Francisco, though a few who have friends among the farmers, or are averse to nonagricultural work, come direct from Italy.

THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE NORTH ITALIAN GARDENERS.

Eight of the holdings investigated by the agents of the Commission were farmed as individual enterprises, while 16 were farmed by partners, these numbering, all told, 71. (General Table 241.) In some instances the junior partners are sons or relatives of the head partner and live on the farm. More frequently, however, they live elsewhere and are associated in the business alone. The 24 farms investigated contained 615.5 acres, an average of approximately 8 acres per farmer. Four farms were owned, 15 were leased, while 5 were in part owned and in part leased by their operators. The number of acres owned was 114, the number leased, 501.5. (General Table 241.) All rentals took the form of cash and varied greatlyfrom $8 to $120 per acre per year. These variations are accounted for by the differences in the condition of the soil, the buildings, the lay of the land, and the difficulties involved in irrigating it.

The largest farm among those investigated contained 90 acres. Another contained 86, another 70, and another 50 acres, all of which are unusually large holdings when devoted to truck gardening. Of the remaining 20 farms, 4 contained from 30 to 36 acres, 2 from 20 to 29.5, while 13 others ranged from 2 to 17 acres. The remaining farm comprised 12 city lots. The farms averaged 26.8 acres, the median farm contained but 17. (General Table 241.)

One of the farms investigated was devoted exclusively to the production of flowers, the other 23 chiefly, if not exclusively, to vegetable gardening. During the last crop year reported, viz, 1907, 23 of the farms sold vegetables to the amount of $181,845; 4 sold flowers for $5,700, while an equal number sold swine and calves for $610.

Although these farmers have abundance of vegetables for their own. use, they do not raise any fruit. They buy grapes, and manufacture wine for their own use. Almost all keep one or two cows or goats from which they supply their own milk and butter. In this way they produce or manufacure most of their own food supply.

The smallest receipts were $600 from the produce of a 2.5-acre holding. The largest receipts were $22,900 from a 50-acre farm owned by 8 partners. The receipts from the other farms were as follows: $720 from 1; $2,510 from another; from $3,000 to $5,000 from 6; from $5,000 to $10,000 from 9; and from $10,000 to $18,525 from 5. The average per farm was $7,839.

Much of the work in the Italian vegetable gardens is done by the numerous partners and the members of their families. Yet all but one farmer employ "outside help" for a part of the year at least, the number of employees on the several farms varying from 1 to 10. These employees are invariably Italians. They receive board and lodging, as a rule, with the farmer's family, in addition to their wages, which are from $25 to $30 per month in summer, and somewhat less in winter.

During the year preceding the investigation, 20 of 24 individual farmers and head partners realized a surplus over and above operating expenses and the cost of living. The amount of gain as reported varied from $20 as a minimum to $1,510 as a maximum, and averaged $611.75 per farmer. This includes some earnings by members of the families from outside work, however, for in several instances both boys and girls had employment in San Francisco for a part of the time. Nearly all of the gains realized were invested in improvements on the land. Of the 24 reporting, 15 sent money abroad during the year, but the aggregate amount was only $355.

THE SETTLEMENT AND PROGRESS OF THE NORTH ITALIAN TRUCK

GARDENERS.

North Italians have long engaged in farming in the outskirts of San Francisco. Four of those from whom data were secured had been on their present farms over thirty years. Many had been in the United States for years before becoming independent farmers. Of 23, 11 had been in the United States from thirty to forty-five years; 6, twenty years, but less than thirty; and the same number from five to fourteen years. One farmer was 37 years old when he first came; 12 were from 20 to 26 years; 7 from 17 to 19 years; while 3 were 11 to 14 years of age when they came. Previous to coming to the United States, 19 of the 23 had belonged to the farming class, 2 to the city wage-earning class, while the remaining 2 had not been gainfully employed. Upon their arrival in this country they had little money, so that most of them became wage-earners. None had as much as $100, and only 3 had more than $25 upon their arrival. In this country 16 found their first employment as farm hands, 2 as common laborers, 2 as city wage-earners, while 2 became farmers at once by entering partnerships. The majority continued to work for wages for many years before they became independent farmers. Of 16 (excluding the 2 mentioned above) reporting data, 8 worked from ten to twenty-six years and the same number from one to eight years before engaging in farming on their own account.