In the table below the average dates, as well as the first and last reported dates, of killing frosts in the fall and spring are given for the same stations.

The soil does not differ materially from that observed about Alliance, but a good many types appear. The whole tract (including both Rosenhayn and Carmel) is practically level, with just enough swells and low hillocks to give good drainage. In the vicinity of Carmel the land is low, wet, and marshy, and needs extensive outlays for drainage before it can be made serviceable for field crops. Some stones and bowlders are found-in places sufficient to make cultivation difficult. South of Carmel a coarse, porous sand somewhat gravelly a type called Windsor sand-is characteristic. Northeast and south of Rosenhayn the soil is very light and sandy, some of the sand being coarse, loose, and unstable, but the finer sand type prevails. Garton road on the west, where 22 good farms are located, has a clay or sandy loam soil called Sassafras gravelly loam, much heavier than the usual variety. It seems well adapted to corn, Irish potatoes, and truck crops, and is perhaps as favorable for peaches, pears, and plums as any soil in south Jersey. Intermingled, there is a great deal of poor white sandy soil, large portions of it covered with brush and young oaks, white and black. The land owned by the Hebrews is of all types, but so far they have obtained but little foothold on the heavier loam soils a few miles north and west of Rosenhayn.

The poorer soil is now being taken up by the Italians, who buy it in small parcels and begin to clear it and plant it to berries. There are from 40 to 50 families of Italians (the assessor reports over 60 polls), all settled on the land within four years. They make a living from the start, and seem much better fitted for pioneer work than their Hebrew neighbors. They own parcels not to exceed 30 acres, usually, but often not more than 10. Many of them moved from the vicinity of Vineland in search of cheaper land. Brush land costs them from $15 to $25 an acre, and old farms with buildings are on the market for $30 to $40 an acre, a short distance from the railroad.

The Hebrew farms run from 10 to 100 acres in size, most of them from 20 to 40 acres, and vary in assessed value of land from $10 to $30 an acre, depending very largely on location, partly on the quality of the soil. The Alliance land is assessed fully 25 per cent higher on the average, the values running from $20 to $60 an acre. The farms are about the same size as at Rosenhayn-the median farm about 27 acres, the largest noted 165 acres, the smallest 9 acres in extent. When first purchased, nearly all this land was uncleared, and some of it was bought as low as $5 an acre. Much can still be bought for

48296°-VOL 22-11-8

$10 an acre. The Aid Society paid the top price for the land, but sold it as at present, at actual cost to Hebrew settlers, after some improvements in the shape of outbuildings had been made.

THE CHARACTER OF THE COLONISTS.

Of the entire number of Hebrew settlers now in these colonies, more than 90 per cent are Russian Hebrews. Occasionally there is found a German Hebrew, a Polish Hebrew or a Pole, or a Galician, but nearly all are Roumanian or Russian Hebrews. With reference to agriculture, neither the early nor the present settlers had much acquaintance with farming in the Old World, none owned any land. and the majority were villagers or small tradesmen.

Those who are now taking up lands or have been coming since 1900 differ financially and spiritually from the earlier settlers; they are men who have some money, often a considerable sum. They buy for investment or with the idea of making a good home and a fair profit at the same time on the land. They do not wish to clear wild land; they want cleared fields ready for the plow and the first spring's seeding. As a matter of fact, while the Aid Society buys farms, builds houses and barns, and sells at cost to the newcomer, it is almost essential that the prospective farmer have at least $700 or $800 to start with. This difference in character and financial condition explains the larger holdings and the better crops of some of the more recent comers. They use more land and more capital, and returns begin to come in at once. On the whole, nearly all are good workers; not so slavish or persevering as the Italian and not so ready and resourceful, at first, as the American, they work diligently and thrive on the long hours and the outdoor labor. Most of them are quick and intelligent, and as soon as they learn the English language or are shown the correct methods of cultivation they get on rapidly and work effectively.

THE COLONIES IN GENERAL AS SHOWN BY FAMILY SCHEDULES.

In the three colonies under consideration 42 representative families were selected for investigation. They represent farm families that have settled in the locality at various times since 1882, some of them being of the older settlers and others of the more recent arrivals.

Thirty-two of the heads of families studied were born in Russia. and 6 in Austria-Hungary, and one each in Germany and Roumania. Seven of the Russian Hebrews came from the vicinity of Kiev.

Twenty-seven of the heads of families under consideration came to the colonies from other parts of the United States and 15 came directly from Europe. Of those who came from other parts of the United States 12 were from New York City and 13 from Philadelphia. The colonists had followed a great variety of occupations both in Europe and in the United States before coming to the settlements in New Jersey.

Eleven of the 42 heads of farm families investigated seem to have made a living from the land from the first occupation, the remainder engaged in some supplemental occupation for various periods, ranging from one to eight or ten years, and some are not yet deriving their incomes wholly from the soil. Of those who engaged in suppli

mental occupations 8 were tailors, 8 farm laborers, 5 worked at various occupations, 2 were teachers, 1 an actor, and 5 borrowed money or lived on previous accumulations. The hardships previously described were not the lot of all of these, some of whom came with money, but a great many have found the way of the farmer anything but smooth, even after the land was cleared, subdued, and planted to bearing crops.

Of the land first bought or rented by these 42 farmers 37 per cent was untillable—that is, uncleared-land, covered with a forest growth of oak, scrub pine, and second or third growth hard wood of various sorts. The first comers bought small farms, varying from 10 to 20 acres, and the allotments were from 13 to 15 acres. There were a few partially cleared farms secured around Rosenhayn and Carmel, but the bulk of the ground was wild.

A large percentage of these farmers paid too much for their land. Despite the care taken by the Hebrew societies it is not possible to prevent people ignorant of everything American from being cheated when purchasing land. During the eighties and nineties, this waste land was worth perhaps $6, $8, or at most $10 an acre. Those who received aid from the various philanthropies got their farms reasonably enough; those who bought independently and those who now buy ignorantly, pay dearly for their ignorance. The following table shows the variations in size of farms bought by the 42 families under consideration and the prices paid for them. Sixty-nine dollars an acre, the average price paid for 12 of the farms under consideration, is high for land of any sort on the tract; but the green Italians who are coming in to buy small, uncleared parcels are paying nearly onehalf of that for them. The values Hebrew farmers with small tractsup to 40 acres place on their fairly well improved farms is nearly $100 an acre, but an intelligent buyer would not offer as high a price for many of them.

TABLE 20.-Condition, size of farms, and price paid, 42 typical Hebrew farms in southern New Jersey.

Nearly all of these farmers were at first settlers on 15 to 20 acres of wild land, about twenty-five years ago. Most of them began without capital and with no buildings or improvements except a house costing about $200; everything was new and everyone inexperienced and awkward about matters of the farm; many of their crops are necessarily commercial crops, and markets were very inadequate up to ten or twelve years ago.

Data taken at random from the tax collector's files for 1908 shows the average acreage of 45 representative farmers, 21 near Alliance. 24 in the vicinity of Rosenhayn, to be 32 acres, and the median or middle farm, 27 or 25 acres in size.

Of the 42 farms included in the commission's detailed inquiry, 6 were between 10 and 20 acres, 18 between 20 and 40 acres, 15 between 40 and 80 acres. Only 3 farms were above 80 acres, and none there had more than 120 acres. The average acreage reported is 40, and the actual middle or median farm is 35 acres in extent.

The staple crops are grapes, strawberries and blackberries, sweet potatoes, lima beans, ani, fess frequently, tomatoes, rhubarb, white potatoes, peppers, and various truck crops. Nearly everyone raises a little field of corn to provide fodder and meal for his live stock, and some have a little meadow land for hay. Very few, however. raise enough roughage for their own needs, hence most must buy hay and corn in the market to supply the deficiency. Few of these crops, except potatoes, involve much outlay for tools, implements, or horse labor. Most of the work may be done by hand with the aid of one horse. Some of the more progressive farmers use two-horse cultivators and plows and modern disk harrows and potato diggers. The majority, however, use one horse only and employ the hoe rather than the cultivator.

The growing of grapes has been greatly stimulated by a vineland grape-juice manufactory, which provides a steady market for all that are grown. The principal variety is the Ives Seedling, the variety that seems best fitted to withstand rot and phylloxera. Every farmer has a few grapevines, the average acreage varying from 3 to 12 acres. They are trained to stakes almost universally, but on a farm near Norma a method of wire trellising is being introduced that will save labor and make possible a free circulation of air about the vines. It also gives a much better opportunity for spraying, since it affords access to every part of the vine without difficulty. The Hebrew farmers are likely to adopt the new mode more quickly than the

Italians.

Both blackberries, of the dewberry variety, and strawberries, are grown in all of the colonies and have been since the beginning. From 4 to 6 acres of strawberries are raised on many of the farms. Both late and early varieties are found, some growers making three pickings in a season. Neither these nor the blackberries are as profitable as formerly. There is the usual complaint concerning the decadence of the Wilson blackberry. The Hebrew farmers employ Italian pickers and find them very satisfactory. They have persevered in berry growing longer than the American farmer, possibly because they can use their own families to gather the berries. Neither at Rosenhayn nor at Norma, the Alliance station, is the berry market satisfactory: at Rosenhayn there are local buyers and sometimes direct sales, but in nearly all cases berries are sold on consignment with very unsatisfactory returns. Since 1901 the canning factory at Norma has consumed a large acreage of berries raised both by Hebrew and by American farmers.

It does not appear that the Hebrew farmers raise fewer quarts per sere or a poorer quality of fruit than the Americans. At Rosenhayn comision men are inclined to the opinion that the Italian is a better grower than either.

Sweet potatoes are another staple, 6 to 12 acres being raised per farmer. The larger number of these, perhaps, are stored in houses erected on the farms and disposed of during the winter, but many are sold directly from the field.

Lima beans are raised by nearly every farmer. They are trained to poles or stakes and require a great deal of care and much hand labor. The early market is, of course, the best, but the canning factories pay 5 cents a pound, or about 75 cents a hamper for them throughout the season. They are ready to pick immediately after the blackberry and the white potato harvest and continue for several weeks. The first beans sell for $2 to $2.50 a hamper, and some farmers have made gross sales of $200 an acre from them; $125 an acre gross is a large average, however. Those who have a large acreage, say 10 to 12 acres, hire Italians, who pick the beans at the rate of 10 cents a hamper. The hampers cost 8 cents each. When shipped on consignment the necessary cost of picking and marketing in New York is 35 to 40 cents a hamper and commission charges. Some commission houses furnish the hampers. Most of the beans produced in this section are grown on Hebrew farms.

White potatoes are a new crop in this region. Farmers in Deerfield have been raising them for three or four years and find them profitable. The Hebrews are just beginning to take up their culture. Some are finding the industry profitable and others are having little success. This is partly due to the soil, since white potatoes need a heavier soil than sweet potatoes to make much headway. When the Commission's inquiry was made one progressive farmer was marketing 325 baskets an acre, the equivalent of 195 bushels. The bulk of the crop sold for 65 cents a bushel. A number of the better farmers are doing fully as well as this a good average even for specialists in potato culture. The growing of potatoes requires careful culture, spraying apparatus, and usually horse machinery. Several Hebrews at Carmel and Rosenhayn were buying digging machines and some machines were at work near Alliance. After digging, the potatoes are placed in hampers or baskets holding about three-fifths of a bushel and are brought to the local markets directly from the fields. There they are sold by weight at a flat rate. A few of the Hebrew farmers hold over their potatoes, but the major part sell at once.

Since 1901 tomato growing has made considerable progress as an industry, for since that time there has been a good market for the crop. A canning company contracts for the larger part of the product at $9 per ton, delivered at the factory, which is situated at the nearest railway depot, Norma. As with other crops, the first fruits are shipped to Philadelphia or New York and sold to commission men. When the market becomes dull, the tomatoes are disposed of at the canning factory. A reasonable profit is assured, if the crop is fair, at a market price of $9 a ton. The factory handles about 300 acres yearly, 40 per cent of which are reported from Hebrew farmers. The acreage per farmer runs from 4 to 6 among the larger farmers.

Very little orchard fruit is raised here. There are small orchards of peaches, pears, and several varieties of apples on nearly every farm, but few produce fruit for market. There are not many young orchards, showing that horticulture is scarcely holding its The chief reason for the failure to develop commercial orchards