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AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS.

SIZE OF FARMS.

On account of the high price prevailing in real estate few of the immigrants have been able to acquire extensive holdings of land. In 1905 the total number of farms in Johnston township was 197. Of this number, 37 were less than 10 acres in area; 29 were 10 acres and under 20; 69, 20 acres and under 50; 38, 50 acres and under 100, and 24, 100 acres or over in area. Data secured for 29 of the 45 Italian freeholders show that 5 of the number own less than 10 acres, 12 own 10 and under 20 acres, 10 own 20 and under 50 acres, 10 own 50 and under 100 acres, and 1 owns 100 acres or over. It is noticeable from these figures that the percentage of Italians who own less than 50 acres is much greater than the percentage of men of all races who own less than this amount; in other words, the average Italian farm is smaller than the average farm in the township.

On the smaller farms very little land is allowed to remain untilled, and this is also true of the larger estates, though some of the latter embrace considerable tracts of hillside and areas too stony for cultivation.

CROPS RAISED.

There is very little general farming in the Johnston colony. A few tons of hay are frequently grown, but otherwise the farming is confined almost exclusively to market garden crops. The vegetables most usually raised are beans, peas, peppers, and tomatoes. In 1905 Johnston Township led the State in the production of green peas and tomatoes. Corn is frequently planted, but only for sale for table use and not for home consumption. Cabbage, cucumbers, cauliflower, and onions are less extensively grown. Two hundred bushels of tomatoes, 100 bushels of peas or beans, 75 barrels of peppers are the yields per acre reported in some instances. Nearly every farm has 1 or 2 acres of hay, and the yield averages about 13 tons an acre. The hay is usually kept for stock feed, but most of the feed for the live stock has to be purchased. Small apple and pear orchards and vineyards are noted on a number of the farms, but very little, if any, fruit is sold. Several of the Italians have cleared satisfactory sums by renting old apple orchards from the natives and selling the fruit. Fruit culture, however, has generally received but little attention in this colony.

Of live stock, the usual number is one or two horses and cows and two or three hogs. No live stock nor dairy nor poultry products are sold. The hogs are killed in the early winter and the meat cured for home consumption.

The expenditures incurred by the Italian in farming are for fertilizers, farm labor, and feed for live stock. The total of this expense frequently amounts to more than 50 per cent of the value of the farm produce. Statistics were collected from 15 families, and 14 of this number had incurred expenses aggregating $5,710, an average of about $408 for each farm, indicating an average expenditure per farm of

about $381 for the settlement.

a Twenty-second Report of Industrial Statistics, Rhode Island, 1908, p. 76. b Ibid., p. 70.

Data for 15 selected families show that the average value of produce sold in 1909 amounted to $813 per farm. The largest income from sales is shown by a farm of 12 acres, from which $1,550 worth of produce was sold. The minimum amount, $40, is reported by a farm of 18 acres, of which only 1 acres were in cultivation.

MARKETS AND MARKETING FACILITIES.

Providence, a city of 175,597 inhabitants, according to the census of 1900, and located about 4 miles from the colony, furnishes the market for the most of the produce raised by the Italian. The methods of marketing are simple. Such of the produce as is ready for the market is loaded upon a wagon late in the evening and early the next day the farmer drives to Providence, where he sells a considerable proportion directly to the consumer. The wagons gather at the city market, known as "the Bridge," on account of its proximity to the bridge across Providence River. The entire forenoon is frequently consumed in disposing of a load of vegetables and sometimes the bargaining continues until afternoon. It is considered necessary to dispose of the produce by 2 o'clock, however, at the latest, and such of the vegetables as remain at that time are sold to commission men or hucksters at any price that can be obtained. The wagons are then driven back to the farm and loaded for a trip the following day. Hay is the only crop that is not taken to market. All the varieties of produce raised by these Italians usually find a ready sale and command a fair price. In 1909 peas and beans brought from 50 cents to $1.50 a bushel unshelled. Tomatoes sold for about 75 cents a bushel, peppers for $2 to $2.50 a barrel, and corn for roasting 10 cents a dozen ears.

The Italian has not introduced any changes of importance in agricultural methods. Many of the immigrants on engaging in agriculture utilized the experience gained while employed as farm laborers for the natives. Their fields are well cultivated, and they probably practice a more intensive form of agriculture than do the natives. Peppers is a new crop introduced by the Italian to supply a demand created by his own race.

Though the Italian is very thorough in his methods of cultivation, the average Italian farmhouse presents a much less attractive appearance than the home of the native farmer. The buildings are frequently unpainted and dilapidated, the fences out of repair, and the thrifty appearance associated with the New England homesteads is lacking. Of course there are some exceptions to these conditions, but they are not numerous. The household furniture is worth little and is limited usually to the most indispensable articles.

PROPERTY OWNED.

The property of the Italians of Olneyville consists of land and improvements in the case of 42 families, who also own some live stock, farm implements, and household effects. On the tax roll of Johnston Township 735 acres of land, valued at $57,400, are assessed to Italian owners, an average of about $78 an acre. The aggregate of all property real and personal assessed to the Italians is

$132,500. There are, of course, a number of Italian farmers who are tenants and own no real estate who do not appear on the tax roll.

TABLE 46.-Range of assessments, Italian farmers, Johnston Township, R. I., 1909. [Compiled from the tax list of Johnston Township, R. I., 1909.]

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Fifteen Italian owners from whom detailed information was secured own 377 acres of land valued at $47,620, or about $126 an acre, and the sum of all their property, real and personal, is $57,464. It is thus seen that the assessed value of the property is somewhat lower than the market value. Of these farms seven have a total indebtedness of $5,300, an average of $757 each, indicating an average indebtedness for the colony of $353 for each farm. The greater part of the indebtedness is on land and improvements, though a few owe small amounts for fertilizer and other supplies. Their savings are usually invested in additions to their holdings of real estate. Doubtless some of the farmers have money on deposit in banks, but it is difficult to secure reliable information in this regard.

STANDARD OF LIVING.

Compared with the native farmer, the Italian landowner in this locality has a rather low standard of living. In clothing, the men differ less from the natives than the women. At work in the field,

and when selling his produce at the market, in garb of overalls and shirt, or cheap ready-made clothing, there is little in this respect to distinguish him from the American laborer. The women, however, are usually far from being either neat or picturesque. When engaged in their daily routine of domestic duties they are frequently rather slovenly in appearance. On Sundays and holidays they are more careful in their attire but go to an extreme in personal adornment, and decked with earrings and flaming scarfs and ribbons present a marked contrast to native styles and costumes. The children of both sexes pattern more closely after the dress of the American children and become Americanized much more rapidly than do their parents.

Housing conditions are frequently rather primitive. It is not unusual for the kitchen to be used both as a bedroom and dining room, and a separate living room or parlor is found but rarely.

In the homes of some of the earlier and more prosperous immigrants are sometimes found clean and attractive rooms and conditions approx

imating the American standards, but these households are the exceptions to the general rule.

During the summer months very little money is expended for food, farm products being used to a large extent, though a few groceries, such as sugar and coffee, are purchased, and flour and some meat is added to the menu during the winter. Wine and beer are regarded as practically indispensable.

The women and children assist to a large extent in the farm work, and the entire household down to the children of 10 years of age are frequently seen in the field. As the children reach the age of 14 years, however, a considerable proportion obtain employment in the numerous woolen mills in the vicinity of Olneyville, going back and forth from the farm to the mills every day and paying over their earnings to the head of the household.

Apparently no difficulty is experienced in securing regular employment. The greater number of the wage-earners are employed in the woolen industry, though there are a few farm laborers and general unskilled workmen.

Probably there are less than 25 per cent of the families in this colony in which some member of the family is not a wage-earner. It is not unusual to find that two or three and in some of the larger families as many as four of the children have outside employment. Weavers and spinners in the woolen mills earn from $4.50 to $7.50, working fifty-eight hours a week, and a few laborers in this industry report earnings of $8 to $9 a week. Farm laborers are in constant demand and are paid about $30 a month. Until they reach the age of 21 the entire earnings of the children are almost invariably paid over to the father of the family. Those who are 21 or over usually retain their wages and pay $4 to $5 a week for board and lodging. The income received from these sources has been of great advantage in enabling the immigrants to discharge their indebtedness and enlarge and improve their farms. For a great number who have been able to purchase only a few acres of land outside employment is an absolute necessity as a means of supplementing the insufficient income from the farm.

SOCIAL CONDITIONS.

The Italians who compose this settlement affiliate with the Roman Catholic Church, where services are conducted in their native language. They patronize the American public schools; the children begin school when 6 years old and are usually kept in school until they reach the age of 14, when they are set at work on the farm or engage in factory employment. Nearly all the Italian children speak both the English and Italian languages fluently, and most of those over 10 years old can also read and write English. At school they mingle freely with American children, and there seems to be no friction or race prejudice in the schools. The Italians of the second generation are much quicker to adopt American standards and are assimilated much more rapidly than the foreign-born Italians.

The association between the native and the Italian children does not extend to the adults, who have very little if any social intercourse. The Italians of the first generation are inclined to retain their own customs, and assimilation proceeds very slowly, especially of those

who were 21 years of age or over when they came to the United States. The women of this age group seldom learn to speak the English language and apparently have no desire to identify themselves with the social life of this country. The immigrants have their religious festivals and other social recreations, which consist largely of friendly gatherings in the different homes, enlivened with music and beer or wine, but there is apparently no social or fraternal organization in the colony, except the Society of San Rocco, which has a few members. Very few newspapers or periodicals are taken.

POLITICAL CONDITIONS.

Classified by birthplace of father, the Report of Industrial Statistics of Rhode Island for 1907 shows that 7,897, or 7.33 per cent of the legal voters of the entire State, are of Italian lineage and that 5,554, or 21.85 per cent of all aliens in the State, are of Italian descent. With regard to literacy, 2,744, or 26.97 per cent of the male illiterates 21 years of age or over, are of Italian descent, the percentage of illiterates as compared with the total number of Italian males 21 years of age and over in the State being 35.29. The same report shows 311 males of Italian lineage 21 years of age or over in Johnston township. Of this number 153 are legal voters, 16 are nonvoters, and 142 are aliens. In this township 86 illiterate males 21 years of age or over of the Italian nativity are reported. Of this number 23 are real-estate voters, 22 are registry voters, and 41 are aliens. A detailed study of 15 typical Italian families in the Olneyville agricultural community disclosed 18 males 21 years of age or over, of whom 2 can read and write English, 2 can read English but can not write, and 14 can neither read nor write. In the same families were 17 foreign-born males 21 years of age or over. Of this number 12 had secured second naturalization papers, 1 had secured first papers, and 4 were aliens. These figures, as a basis for the entire colony, indicate that the percentage of illiteracy in the colony is much greater and the percentage of aliens much smaller among the farmers of Johnston township than is shown in the total for the entire State. Compared with South Italian agricultural colonies at Hammonton and Newfield, N. J., the Olneyville immigrants have a very high proportion of naturalized citizens.

Beyond exercising the franchise the Italian landowners have displayed but little activity in political affairs and seem content to leave the administration of the local government in the hands of the natives.

EFFECT OF THE COLONY.

While the settlement is of somewhat insignificant proportions, both with respect to numbers and area, it is probably within the mark to say that the colony has been successful. The land is productive and the immigrants, thrifty and industrious, are in a large measure free from debt and have placed their farms on a profitable basis. The high price of real estate made the first few years especially difficult for those with small capital, but opportunities to supplement the income from the farm with other employment have been almost unlimited

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