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the general farming efficiency is of a more advanced type than in most other Hebrew colonies. Some are paying the penalty of illadvised investments in equipment; some have planted too large acreages of tobacco for the labor force, and some have not been successful as milk producers. But as a general rule all are alert and apt to learn and have made a decided improvement in farming conditions since their arrival.

HISTORY OF SETTLEMENT.

The Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society has played a helpful part in the settlement of Hebrews at Ellington. Only a few settlers have borrowed money from the funds controlled by the society, but practically all have received advice both in purchasing land and in methods of culture. In fact, several of the farms were chosen and the price determined through the instrumentality of the society. Because of this aid and advice few men have paid too much for their land and, in consequence, most of them are hopeful and cheerful.

The first Hebrew farmer to settle in Ellington was a farmer from Colchester, Conn. He had lived a good many years on one of the poor farms near that place, but had an opportunity to sell out to advantage in 1904, and bought an old farm near Rockville. The second Hebrew farmer came from Groton, Conn., in the same year and bought land near Ellington. Both were practical farmers and men of intelligence; one went into dairying and sold milk in Rockville; the other took up an old farm of 140 acres that for years had been practically abandoned, and, although tillable, had grown up to wire grass and other foul vegetation. He began to produce tobacco and milk for the Hartford market. At present this man is cultivating 70 acres of land in hay and crops and raising a gross value of $4,000 worth of dairy and vegetable products yearly. His bill for labor and fertilizers in 1908 was $1,125.

After the arrival of the first two families the locality was brought to the attention of the Jewish Agricultural Society as a desirable place for settling incoming Hebrews, and since then several newcomers, Russian Hebrews, have been located on two roads on the border line between East Windsor and Ellington townships. In the majority of cases these newcomers were farmers or men who had been accustomed to handle capital in industry. They have put their money into land as a productive investment; they are commercial farmers and look for more than mere subsistence; they expect handsome returns.

It is too early to forecast the future; some have been on the land but one year, and the 1909 crop was their first; some made mistakes at the outset, and almost all have been reinvesting their surplus profits in permanent improvements-tobacco barns, silos, or repairsor in live stock, tools, and equipment. Nearly all purchased the land with "stock and tools" and nearly all who bought found the "stock and tools" a poor bargain. One man who purchased a farm with 30 cows in 1907 found them a losing proposition, and in 1908 sold the whole number.

The settlement is still growing, although land is advancing in price, owing to the increased demand for it, and present indications

point toward a permanent, progressive settlement of Hebrew farmers in the neighborhood.

To be accurate, there are two distinct settlements, with very different economic aspects. On one road, where within a distance of two and one-half miles six or more Hebrews have bought farms, they have acquired the holdings of well-to-do owners who sold them farms on which they were living, cultivating well, and raising good crops. They sold to Hebrews and German-Swiss because their children had left them and the labor problem had become so acute that it was impossible for them to make a surplus over living expenses. The Hebrew newcomers purchased these farms in lots of from 85 to 265 acres. The price paid for land varies, of course, but runs from $40 to $90 per acre, including all improvements, and frequently $1,000 worth of tools and stock per farm. Most of the land in the neighborhood is held at $60 to $70 an acre. It is rich heavy land, somewhat rolling, or a fine sandy loam, more level and suitable for tobacco. The six Hebrew farms on this road lie between German-Swiss and native New England homesteads of the very best type.

The other settlement is 1 mile from the first, just west of the ridge bounding the Connecticut Valley on the east. Here six years ago were half a dozen or more semi-abandoned farms which had once been well tilled, but that had for some years been allowed to fall into decay. A few acres, out of a possible 60 or 70, were cultivated in potatoes, corn, and rye, a few cows were kept and a hog or two, but there was little or no farming for profit, and the section seemed to be passing into an agricultural decline. The land is somewhat rougher, more stony, and in part very sandy, the sand being a coarser variety than that first mentioned. The farms in this vicinity were bought more cheaply, since the houses and barns were in poor repair and much of the land had reverted almost to its original condition. Some land was purchased for as little as $15 an acre, most of it for $30 to $40. Most of the farms are 100 to 150 acres in extent, and aside from the woodland practically the entire acreage is capable of cultivation, after a little of the recent growth of briars and wire grass has been cleared away.

This second settlement is barely well started. The Hebrews have gone into tobacco growing and dairying, and at the present time at least three silos are in process of construction. Tobacco has proved fairly profitable, but dairying, which necessitates a systematic rotation and a considerable acreage in general crops for feed and forage, has been of greater advantage in restoring the fertility of the land and clearing it of wild grass and vegetation. Although the houses and barns do not give that impression, probably greater progress in agriculture has been made on some of these farms than on any in the vicinity within the past few years.

A detailed study was made of 11 families of Russian Hebrews and, for purposes of comparison, 5 families of German-Swiss, who occupy adjoining farms. The typical family table at the end of this chapter gives the economic summaries of 7 of these Hebrew farmers and 5 of the German-Swiss. A careful inspection of the table shows something of the progress they have made in the course of a few years on the land.

The figures used and statistics quoted in what follows, however, refer to the total number of Hebrew farm families investigated and are not limited to those exhibited in the table referred to.

TOPOGRAPHY, SOIL AND CLIMATE.

The whole section of country included in west Ellington township presents a very diversified contour. The wagon road from Ellington to Rockville runs below a ridge of hills, lying north and south, an extension of the upland which bounds the Connecticut Valley. Parallel to this and 1 mile nearer the valley is a second ridge 200 to 300 feet above sea level, once covered with hard wood, of which small tracts still remain. Between the two ridges and along the eastern face of the second are the farms of the first group of Hebrew settlers. Still farther west on the western slope of the second ridge, extending down into the outer rim of the Connecticut Valley, is the second

group.

Practically all of the farms are on the two sides of this secondary ridge, which rises somewhat abruptly from the basin of the Hockanum River and the valley of the Connecticut. The farmers on the eastern slope look across a pretty valley, somewhat wet in its lower portions, on account of numerous springs, but producing good crops of hay. The slopes rise gently and the land is given to the culture of tobacco, corn, and vegetables. The eastern slope, on which the Hebrews are located, rises gently to the west, so gently, in fact, that several of the farms are almost level. The drainage, with a few exceptions, is excellent to the basin of the valley.

The soil is a sandy loam-a fine sand, which in places gives way to rather heavy clay. There are few stones except on the brow of the ridge; the sand is reddish brown, almost silty in places, and being well drained is an excellent soil for potatoes, vegetables, and especially tobacco. The clay land is adapted to hay, both clover and timothy and raises good corn; the uplands are almost entirely cleared, and when too steep for cultivation are used for pasturage. Those who have wet ground near the lower level of the little valley use it for meadow, and cut fair crops of hay in good seasons.

On the western side of the ridge, where lies the poorer soil, previously mentioned, there is a good deal of second or third growth timber on the highest points-much of it a sort of scrub oak. On the lower levels the land is sandy and stony, more or less broken and irregular in contour, less easily cultivated, but fairly well drained. There are places where a heavy clay appears, white or brownish, but the greater part is a sandy loam of coarser texture.

Here tobacco grows well, but corn is not so rank and hay not so productive as on the first-mentioned soil. Here were a few years ago the greater number of the semi-abandoned farms.

The climate is such that with proper cultivation corn and tobacco fully mature before frost, if the season is normal. The temperature during the growing season ranges from 56° in May to 61° in September. July is the warmest month, with a mean temperature of 70°. The rainfall is normally heaviest during the growing season, 4.5 inches monthly.

AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS.

The size of farms ranges from 85 to 265 acres (the average being about 120 acres), and two-thirds of the acreage is in tame hay or cultivated crops. A number of the farms are of the original size, but some immigrants have added more land and a few have cut down the original holding by selling a portion of their cultivated land. The remainder of the acreage is in woodland or wild pasture, a great deal of which is on the higher and rougher areas.

The Hebrew farms are of very much the same size as the others in the community, and the type of agriculture followed differs very little from that of the original farmer-the New Englander, or the German-Swiss element. The Swiss acreage per farm is usually less, and nearly every rod of the land they occupy is in cultivation, if the land is at all fit for cultivation. But the Swiss have been in the community for a longer period.

It

The two crops of universal commercial interest are tobacco and Irish potatoes. Tobacco is raised by every farmer whose land is at all adapted to it, but there are no large growers. The average area planted to tobacco by a Hebrew farmer is from 6 to 10 acres, and the production ranges from 1,400 pounds to 2,000 pounds per acre. does not appear that the Hebrews average less tobacco to the acre, or that, on the whole, the quality of the cured leaf is inferior to the average in the neighborhood. The variety grown almost exclusively is the wrapper leaf, of which there are two sorts, the so-called broad leaf and the short Habana leaf. The broad leaf is less grown now than formerly, and in the neighborhood of Ellington is raised on the sandier soils.

Tobacco requires very careful preparation of the soil, good tillage, and close attention from planting to shipment. It is very susceptible to climatic changes and weather conditions in every stage of its growth, and even after it is ready for shipment, the fluctuations of the market are a source of anxiety to the tobacco tiller. Heat or frost, drought or excessive humidity, hail or wind, a hundred animal pests and diseases, and finally the fancy of the consumer, all seem in league against the grower. The Hebrews, unfamiliar with tobacco, have met these untoward conditions with varying degrees of success. They employ all the implements, planters, cultivators, smoothing harrows, and fertilizer distributors used by the other planters, apply large quantities of high-grade fertilizer, and give the same cultivation that other growers do. They have not been in the community long enough to introduce any innovations in the way of methods or new varieties. Several have built new tobacco barns of the usual type. To build a shed capable of holding the product of 10 acres of tobacco costs from $1,000 to $1,300.

The selling price of tobacco varies from year to year for reasons that need not be discussed here. The bulk of the 1906 Hebrew crop sold for 17 cents a pound, the 1907 crop at 11 cents, and the 1908 crop from 11 to as low as 83 cents.

Potatoes, in general, have proved profitable. They are not raised in large quantities, but every farmer produces them; the larger growers sell from $500 to $800 worth yearly. Very few have more than 10 acres of them, the average lying between 4 and 7 acres a farm. Not all

the soil is adapted to potatoes, and a fair yield is 100 bushels to the

acre.

Very few other vegetables or truck crops are grown for market, and practically no fruit of any kind is sold. Cabbages and tomatoes were reported by two or three farmers, but the total commercial acreage did not exceed 4 acres in 1908.

Rye and rye straw find a ready sale, grow well on the light sandy or stony soils, and bring good returns. The straw is sold in bundles and is used for bedding in livery stables. Only a small acreage is grown by the Hebrews, however.

All of the other crops corn, oats, hay, corn stover, and ensilageare accompaniments of the dairy industry. There are several silos, more are being built, but the chief reliance for forage is mixed timothy and clover hay-of which some farmers raise 40 acres and corn stover. One of the Hebrew farmers raises the best corn in that section of country. The average yield is almost 40 bushels of flint corn per acre; 50 bushels is considered a very large crop. Corn follows oats or rye in the rotation of crops and precedes clover and timothy 'mowing" the grass seed is sown between the corn rows after the last cultivation.

Oats do not make a very good showing, and are dropping out of the rotation. Frequently they are not threshed, but are cut green for hay, or harvested and fed in the bundle. Taken together-oats, hay, and ensilage-hardly enough grass and clover are grown to supply the stock. It is usual to buy some mill feed to supplement the feed and forage produced on the farm. Tame hay averages 1 to 2 tons per acre, wild meadow yields about 1 ton of poorer hay. One or two crops are cut from one sowing, and then the field is turned into pasture for a year, or broken up for potatoes or some other hoed crop.

Both the Hebrews and the German Swiss have gone rather extensively into the dairy industry. There are some good cows, but few well-bred dairy cattle of either milk or butter strains. The herds range from 5 to 25 cows, and the value of dairy products sold annually from $75 to $1,500 per farm. In addition to this, there is, of course, the butter and milk used by the family. The product sold is milk. One or two farmers sell to local milk dealers or retail the milk in Rockville, and some cream is sold; but the bulk of the product is shipped from the local station to the Hartford market. One or two farmers sell butter to private customers in New York or Hartford and get better returns than those who sell the milk directly. The question of disposing of the skimmed milk in these instances has been solved by one Hebrew, who raises hogs on the by-products of the dairy.

All Hebrew farmers in Ellington have from two to six horses, some of them fine draft animals. Two or three good horses are required to draw the heavy plows and cultivators used. No sheep are kept, and few cattle other than milk cows.

The investment in tools, implements, wagons. and farm machines is larger and the equipment more modern and complete than on many American farms. It is almost impossible to obtain sufficient farm laborers, and the substitution of machinery for manual labor has been going on for some time. The Hebrews came in ignorant of the methods of specialized agriculture, and have taken it up after the manner of the farmers in the neighborhood. Having money, they invested

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