which have cut rather deeply into the earth and run in very narrow valleys.

The surface soil is for the most part Conowingo clay, a grayishyellow, gravelly loam about 8 inches in depth. The surface is strewn with small pieces of magnetite iron and fragments of talc schistthe latter sometimes in large quantities. The subsoil is a reddish clay loam, running into solid rock at from 2 to 5 feet below the surface. It is a residual soil, derived from the weathering of tale schist.

The soil is mellow, friable, and easily tilled, and seldom clods or bakes to any extent. When intelligently cultivated it gives a fair vield of staple crops. Owing to its location the natural drainage is excellent. The rainfall flows rapidly from the sides of the hills, leaving the soil well drained soon after a rain. Where the timber has been cleared off, erosion is very active, because of the power of the loose gravel carried along by the surface water, and especial care has to be exercised when this soil is brought under cultivation to prevent its washing.

AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS.

The farms of the colonists range in size from 30 to 150 acres, with probably 50 to 60 acres as an average. In practically all cases less than 50 per cent of the land owned is under cultivation, first, because the country is so rough that a great deal of land is not tillable, and, second, because the use of improved farm machinery being practically precluded, only small areas can be cultivated.

The yields of field crops are small, as a rule, the average yield per acre for this county in 1899 being: Corn, 15.34 bushels; wheat, 5.08; oats, 7.63; Irish potatoes, 38.51; sweet potatoes, 59.67; hay, 1.26 tons. Probably the yield has been increased somewhat since the census of 1900; it is known certainly that the present average production per acre on the farms of the colonists is greatly in excess of the average indicated. The immigrant farmers are very successful, considering their opportunities, often realizing from two to three times the yield of the native American farmer on the same quality of soil. The farms of a majority of the American farmers have become impoverished from constant cultivation and failure to protect the soil from the atmospheric forces by adequate cover crops. through the winter months.

The native farmers are all one or two horse farmers, and practically all land is prepared and cultivated with small one-horse plows. It was formerly the practice to break the land to an average depth of 2 to 4 inches, and very shallow plowing is still their rule; this method is frequently responsible for the small yields. The immigrant farmers cultivate fewer acres, plow more deeply, prepare their soil more thoroughly, and diversify their crops to a greater extent.

It will be noted that it has been the custom of native American farmers to pay very little attention to permanent soil improvement. Crop rotation in any systematic or intelligent way is seldom practiced.

a United States Department of Agriculture. Field Operations of the Bureau of Soils, 1902 (Fourth Report), pp. 249-250.

Twelfth Census of U. S., Census of 1900, Vol. VI.

Very little care is taken of barnyard manure, and crops of known soil-enriching value rarely are grown.

The crops occupying the greater area of each farm are wheat and corn. Oats have been grown for only a few years by the colonists and the yield is fair. The whole of this crop is used on the farm, a greater part being fed unthrashed, in the sheaf. The colonists have been fairly successful in grape culture; but owing to the abrupt changes in temperature in the spring and late frosts, due to the high altitude, the crop is often killed or seriously damaged. None of the grapes are sold for table use, because of poor market facilities, but instead each farmer makes his grapes into wine, and when the crop turns out well nearly all have some wine for sale.

The colonists raise a great many cowpeas, which, as a rule, follow both wheat and oats as a second or inter-crop. If grown for seed, they are planted in drills and plowed once or twice and the pods picked off, but if planted for hay they are usually sowed broadcast and the vines cut and cured green; in either case the roots add a great deal of fertility to the soil. Rye is used on a small scale by some for green manuring. It is the practice of the Italian farmers to improve the soil by more systematic methods of crop rotation and by use of barnyard manure rather than to add commercial fertilizer to stimulate the soil.

The average immigrant farmer rarely cultivates more than 15 or 20 acres, and from this a good living is provided for the family, and sufficient grain and hay are raised to furnish feed for the live stock kept usually one horse, from one to three cows, and a few hogs. Usually each farmer sells a few bushels of wheat or corn, or both, and some Irish potatoes. Each year from one to three hogs and about the same number of cattle are marketed. In this way money is provided for taxes, clothing, and other necessities which have to be bought for cash.

MARKETS AND MARKETING FACILITIES.

Farm products when sold are usually hauled to Hickory, Connelly Springs, or Morgantown, small villages 15, 4, and 6 miles from Valdese, respectively. The roads are very bad as a rule, being hilly, and often in spring and winter very muddy.

The railway transportation facilities are good. The Southern Railway runs through the colony, and, if other conditions were favorable, farm products could be shipped to Asheville or to the northern or eastern markets. However, so much of the land has to be devoted to the production of crops for use on the farm that the small quantity of produce which is available for market does not make a profitable shipment. The greatest needs are a good local market and good roads over which to haul the surplus which farmers happen to have.

PROPERTY OWNED.

All residents of the colony are landowners, and all except two are practically without debts of any kind. This is an especially creditable showing, when the many hardships they underwent in starting and the poor condition of the soil are considered. Some of those

who live in the colony have saved some money, but this has not been made from the farms. Very few have made any investments other than to buy additional land, but several families have increased their original holdings.

STANDARD OF LIVING.

The colonists, while not maintaining a low standard of living, live very frugally. They spend very little for clothing as a rule. For every-day wear they buy a cheap, coarse quality of material, tailor it themselves, and make it last a long time. It is not uncommon to see the women and children wearing coarse brogan shoes with hobnails in the soles to prevent their wearing out. Greater progress is being made in general housing conditions than in any other respect. All houses built in recent years are modern in structure, having from four to six rooms, usually finished with a good quality of lumber and tastefully painted. The houses are not elaborately furnished, but in quality and quantity the furnishings compare favorably with those found in the homes of the better native farmers of the same means. They are well kept and present a neat appearance. The percentage of log houses in the locality is a great deal larger among American farmers than among the Italians. The barns are substantially built structures, large enough to shelter all live stock and implements kept and to furnish storage for all farm products raised on the farm. The grounds surrounding the houses are usually well kept and every available space is made to produce some fruit or vegetable crop or plants for ornament. Each family has a large oven built out of doors, constructed of stone and brick, in which all bread is baked. Sufficient bread is baked at each baking to supply the family for a week.

While fully as much food is consumed by the settlers as by native American farmers, more of it is produced on the farm. They consume less meat and more vegetables. The Italian farmers have to buy little but coffee and sugar. The native Americans buy a large quantity of the meat and lard used in their homes.

The Italian women and children do much of the lighter work about the farm, such as hoeing in the garden and vineyard, weeding, etc., but none of them engage in the heavier tasks-chopping, clearing land, digging, or driving a team.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR EMPLOYMENT.

A hosiery mill, a small enterprise manufacturing cheap hosiery, is operated by two of the colonists. The mill is very small, having a capacity of about 200 dozen pairs of hose daily. Only a cheap grade of hosiery, to retail at 10 cents per pair, is manufactured. The wages paid are not very high, from $5 to $9 per week for men, $3 to $7 for women, and $2 to $3 for children. Twelve or 15 men and about 25 to 30 women and children are employed. The mill runs ten hours per day and sixty hours per week.

CHURCH-RELIGIOUS LIFE.

The people of this colony are deeply religious, and have a very fine church building. They all belong to the Waldensian Church. The church in Valdese is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, and the Concord Presbytery assists in paying the minister. Their church building is constructed of stone, and was built by the labor of the members of the colony at a cost of $5,000. The money for its erection was solicited by their minister from outside sources, with the exception of a small amount contributed by young men of the colony employed in other localities. Church services and Sunday school are held regularly each Sunday. The service is in French. A young people's society and a young men's organization are maintained in connection with the church.

EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS.

The schools at Valdese are not very satisfactory. The annual term is three and one-half to four months, and the only easily available school is a common ungraded public one with two teachers. When the colony was first established a New York missionary society supported and conducted a day school for a few years, until the colonists and the State contributed $600, each giving half, for a schoolhouse. The public school was then established. The Italians manifest great interest in education; all the children are sent to school, and the attendance is very regular. Considerable effort has been made to induce the county school commissioner to grant them a longer school term.

Rutherford College is located 3 or 4 miles from the colony, and one or two of the Italians have gone there, after securing as much knowledge as their public school afforded. On account of the short school terms some of the colonists send their children to Asheville to school; a number have graduated from the Asheville Farm School, a private institution of high-school grade, located near Asheville. The secretary of this school has said that the Italian boys from Valdese have been among the most intelligent and promising that have ever attended the Farm School.

All the colonists have at least first naturalization papers, which were secured from one to six years after coming to the locality. Some have their second papers. Practically all of them take a lively interest in politics, especially with regard to the liquor question. Party affiliations have been governed largely by environment. Although all vote alike as a rule, they do so voluntarily. There has never been any effort to control the Italian vote. None of the colonists have aspired to any political office.

MORAL CONDITIONS.

The moral standards of the colonists are high. Their reputation for general morality is a source of pride to the individual members, and is often referred to in a commendatory way by Americans in all sections of the State who are familiar with them.

A great deal of light, home-made wine is consumed, but it is used principally as a beverage with meals, standing in the same relation

the menu in their homes as tea and coffee on the tables of American rmers. Since the establishment of the colony there has not been a se of drunkenness.

The colonists are honest and are always prompt in meeting obligaons of every kind. They are deeply religious and are devoted to eir church and its traditions. The Sabbath is strictly observed by I as a religious duty.

The marriage relation is strictly honored, and home life is very conenial. Many children, at present away from home, contribute reguarly and substantially to the family income. Numerous farms in he colony were paid for either wholly or in part by children who were t work away from home.

EFFECT OF SETTLEMENT ON NEIGHBORHOOD.

The colonists are much better agriculturists than the native farmers n this locality. They pay more attention to the careful cultivation of the soil and work more for its preservation and permanent upbuilding. They cultivate less acreage per adult, but get a better yield per acre and per man than their American neighbors. General farming conditions have been greatly improved since their coming to the settlement. The native farmers in the community have noted the success of the colonists, and through pride have been stirred to better methods of agriculture. There has been no displacement of American farmers in the community, because the Italians first settled on wild land, and the settlement has never grown beyond the original limits.