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1. P I C K I N G PEAS. 2. P I C K I N G C U C U M B E R S . 3. “ S P O O N I N G ” S P I N A C H .
4. C A R R Y I N G H A M P E R S O F P O T A T O E S .
5.' “ SC R A T C H IN G ” OR “ G R A B
B L I N G ” PO TA TO E S JUST A FT E R T H E Y ARE P LO W E D .

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U . S. D E P A R TM E N T OF LA B O R
JAMES J. DAVIS. Secretary

CHILDREN’S BUREAU
GRACE ABBOTT. Chief

CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF
MOTHERS ON NORFOLK
TRUCK FARMS
«

Bureau Publication N o . 130

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

1924

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A D D IT IO N A L COPIES
OF THIS PUBLICATION H A T BE PRO CUBED FROM
THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON, D. C.
AT

6 CEN TS P E R C O PY
PURCHASER AGREES NOT TO RESELL OR DISTRIBUTE THIS
COPT FOR PROFIT.— PUB. RES. 67, APPROVED M AT 11, 1922

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31= 2-. 1
l i f t c.
H\to.

C O N T E N T S.
Page.
Letter of transmittal............................................................................................................ ..

In tr o d u c tio n ........................................................................................... - .............................. ***
Classes of child workers.........................................................................................*.............

Families of the child workers.....................................................................................................
Farm work done b y children................................................ - ......................- ..........................

7-1 8

K in d s of w o r k ..................................................................................- ...................................

Duration of field work...........................................................................................................
Hours of work.................................................................................................................

Earnings.............................
I4
Schooling of children working on the farm s........................................................................ 18-21
School attendance............ - ............................... .....................................................................

1®

Causes of ab sen ce....................................................................................................................
1®
•Retardation..................................................................................................
20
Work of mothers...................................................
21-26
Conditions of work..................................................................................................................
E ffect of mothers’ work on the welfare of the children.........................................
Conclusion.......................................................- - - .............................................................................

21
24
-

ILLUSTRATIONS.
Picking peas— Picking cucumbers— “ Spooning” spinach— Carrying hampers
of

potatoes— ‘ ‘ Scratching,”

“ grabbling, ”

potatoes

are p lo w ed .................................................................................................

just

after

they
Frontispiece.

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LETTER O F T R A N SM IT TA L.

D epartm ent of L abor,
C h il d r e n ’s

B ureau,

Washington, September 10, 1928.

Si r : Submitted herewith is a report entitled “ Child Labor and
the Work of Mothers on Norfolk Truck Farms,” one of a series of
studies on rural child labor which the industrial division of the
bureau is making.
The investigation was planned and carried on under the general
supervision of Ellen Nathalie Matthews, director of the industrial
division of the bureau. Ethel M. Springer was responsible for the
immediate direction of the field work and for the preliminary organi
zation of the material for the report.
The Children’s Bureau desires to express its appreciation of the
cooperation given during the course of the investigation by State,
county, and local officials, particularly by school principals, teachers,
and attendance officers.
Respectfully submitted.
Grace

Hon.

Ja m e s

J. D a v is ,

Secretary o f Labor
IV

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A bbott,

Chief.

CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS ON
NORFOLK TRUCK FARMS.1
IN TR O D U C TIO N .

The so-called Norfolk section of Virginia, comprising the counties
of Norfolk, Princess Anne, Nansemond, Isle of Wight, and York, is
one of the most intensive truck-farming areas in the United States.
Within a comparatively small territory produce is raised for ship
ment not only to the large cities to the north along the Atlantic
coast but also to inland cities as far west as Chicago and St. Louis.
Climate and soil combine to make the Norfolk area ideal for truck
farming, and work on the truck farms is practically continuous
throughout the year. Local farmers boast that the area produces
40 crops, and the day sheets of one of the largest shipping companies
of Norfolk provide columns for 42 varieties of vegetables and small
fruits, with additional undesignated columns for other varieties.
During the winter the hardier greens—kale, spinach, and collards—■
are harvested. In January the ground is prepared for early crops,
and cabbage and strawberries are set out. In February early
potatoes, beans, and radishes are planted. March is the month for
planting lettuce and setting out or transplanting sweet-potato slips.
Cantaloupes, tomatoes, and eggplants are ready to set out in April,
and peas and cucumbers are started about this time. Throughout
these early months radishes, lettuce, and cabbages are being gathered,
but the “ rush season” for harvesting begins in late April or early
May with the strawberry crop and the early spring vegetables and
continues until melons and sweet potatoes have been gathered in
August. • Late plantings of many of these crops are made during the
spring, and in August and September the fall crops of kale, spinach,
and potatoes are started.
The average size of the Norfolk farms (78.4 acres in Norfolk
County) is small compared with the general average for the United
States (148.2 acres), but a single farm in the Norfolk area may
i This is the second in a series of studies of the work of children on truck farms. See Child Labor on Mary
land Truck Farms, Children’s Bureau Publication No. 123. A study of the work of children on truck
and small fruit farms in southern New Jersey is in press.

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C H IL D LABOR A N D T H E W O R K OF M O T H E R S

produce many different crops. For example, one of the farms
visited had grown during the year of the study kale, spinach, radishes,
strawberries, peas, potatoes, beans, beets, cucumbers, sweet corn,
eggplants, tomatoes, melons, sweet potatoes, and cabbage, a series
which meant a fairly continuous harvest throughout the year. Other
farms cultivated more intensively a smaller number of crops; for
example, a farm of 120 acres grew only kale, cabbage, beans, and
potatoes. Raising two crops a year of each of these four vegetables
means continuous work.
The districts in which the present study of the work of children
on truck farms was made were located in Norfolk and Nansemond
Counties and were selected after consultation with State and local
officials well acquainted with agricultural and educational conditions
in the State. Every truck farm in the selected districts was can
vassed, and an interview was held with every family living or work
ing on farms in which any child under 16 years of age had done
farm work during the year preceding the interview.
The study was made during May, June, and July—undoubtedly
the busiest season on the truck farms of the area— and included the
period covering the harvesting of strawberries, which ripen usually
in May; of beans and peas, which are sent to market in June; and
of early potatoes, which are gathered in the latter part of June and
in July. It was possible, therefore, to obtain more detailed infor
mation regarding children’s work on those crops than on any others,
but all the workers interviewed were questioned as to their work for
the entire year previous to the inquiry. Whether or not the usual
number of children were employed on the farms during the year of
the study it is not possible to say definitely, but workers and farmers
stated that because of the unemployment situation throughout the
country more men than usual were available for work on farms and
therefore fewer children were employed.
CLASSES OF CH ILD W O R K E R S.

There is a marked difference in the kinds of labor employed on
the truck farms of different States, and even on those of different
sections of the same State. The workers included in the Children’s
Bureau study of child labor on the truck farms of southern New
Jersey, for example, were nearly all white, chiefly foreign bom or
the children of foreign-born parents, who had taken up small holdings
in the farming districts and become permanent residents or had come
from the large cities as seasonal workers. In Maryland, where a
similar study was made by the bureau, large numbers of both white
and colored children, most of them of native birth and resident on

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O N N O R FO L K T R U C K F A R M S.

the farms the year round, work on the truck farms in the Eastern
Shore section; while of the child workers in Anne Arundel County
about two-thirds were found to be living on the farms or in small
neighboring settlements, and one-third were migratory workers from
Baltimore, many in each group having foreign-born parents. In the
Norfolk area of Virginia farm labor is recruited chiefly from the col
ored race, and practically all the children working on the farms are
colored. Only 17 white children under 16 years of age were reported
as working on the truck farms in the area studied, and because the
number is small they have not been considered in this report. The
study therefore deals exclusively with negro workers. It includes
895 children in 502 families.
A very large proportion of the farm laborers in this section do not
live on the farms but come from near-by villages or from the city of
Norfolk to work by the day. Of the 895 children included in the
study only 191 lived on farms the year round and 64 during the busy
season; the majority (640, or 71.5 per cent) came out to the farms
to work for the day, returning to their homes in town or rural settle
ment each night.
FAM ILIE S OF TH E CH ILD W O R K E R S.

The families of the child workers included in this study were those
of farm operators (owners or tenants) and regular farm laborers,
living on the farms all the year round; temporary employees living
on the farms during the busy seasons only; and (by far the largest
class) laborers coming to the farms each day from rural settlements
or the city of Norfolk. (Table 1.)
Very few farm owners’ or tenants’ families are represented in this
report, for though the proportion of negro farmers in Norfolk County
is large (35.5 per cent) most of them operate market gardens rather
than truck farms— that is to say, dispose of their produce in local
markets instead of shipping it— and so did not come within the scope
of the study.
Only 25 of the 502 families included in the study were those of
farm operators, and of these 8 were farm owners and 17 were tenant
farmers. These men farmed in a small way—of 5 owners reporting
«as to acreage, 4 operated farms of less than 50 acres, as did all the
13 tenant farmers giving reports as to acreage— and in some cases
supplemented by other occupations their income from the farm.
Most of them, both owners and tenants, lived in small three or four
room unscreened houses, some of them seriously overcrowded, and a
few (eight) with no privies or other toilet accommodations. In only
8 of the 25 families could both parents read and write, and only 7
took a newspaper or other periodical.

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C H IL D LABOR A H D T H E W O R K OF M O T H E R S

T a b l e 1.— W ork status o f fam ilies and children interview ed who worked on truck farm s.

Work status of family.

Families Children
with
under
working 16
who
children worked.
under 16.
502

895

8
17
78
399

13
38
140
704

42
289
68

64
526
114

Seventy-eight of the families included in the study were those of
regular farm laborers living on farms. The farmer employing the
laborers had first claim upon the time of the members of their
families,.though if there was no work to be done on his farm they
were free to work elsewhere. Their social status was somewhat
below that of the negro farmers of the neighborhood; in an even
smaller proportion of these families of resident farm laborers (19 of
the 78) were both parents literate, and in proportionately fewer
(17 of the 78) was reading matter subscribed for. An even larger
proportion than among the farm operators pieced out their incomes
by other work than farming; 21 heads of households reported other
employment, such as domestic service or work in a factory or on a
railroad. They were a stable group: Half of them had lived on
the same farm for five years preceding the study, and one-fourth
had moved only once during that period. The condition of the
houses in which they lived depended on the interest and resources
of the farmers hiring them. On some farms rows of small neat
cottages had been erected for the laborers; on others old, abandoned
buildings were utilized. Their homes were usually three or four
room cabins, unscreened, half of them without privies and most of
them too small for the large families which they had to accommodate.
In 33, or two-fifths, of the homes there were two or more persons per
room.
Local farm labor is supplemented during busy seasons by laborers
from the city and near-by settlements, though only a few farmers
find it necessary to house their laborers during the time they are
needed for a special harvest, usually a period of only three or four
weeks. Forty-two of the families included in the study had come
out to live on the farms during busy seasons. About half of those
reporting had been seasonal farm workers for at least four seasons.
While in the country they lived in the most primitive way. Most

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ON NO RFO LK T R U C K FARM S.

of them were housed in one-room shacks, sleeping on hay or on
wooden crates, cooking over camp fires, and having no toilet accom
modations. Only 11 of the 42 families reported having privies,
and some of these were surface privies or were built over banks or
streams, a source of contamination to soil and water. Frequently sev
eral families occupied a single room. One shack, for example, had
three rooms, each of which sheltered 25 men, women, and children.
So many families lived in this shack that, as one mother said, “ You
have to take your chance on cooking meals.” They had no toilet and
only one pump.
Owing to the accessibility of the Norfolk farms to the city and to
numerous negro villages, the great bulk of the seasonal labor and,
in fact, of all the labor used on the truck farms of this region consists
of laborers coming out to the farms to work each day. Some farmers
send motor trucks each morning to bring the workers from the city
or the little rural settlements where they live; others charter street
cars; others merely furnish car fare.
Workers living near the farms usually secure their jobs directly
from the farmer— they apply in person or he comes to their houses
in search of workers. “ The farmer came to our street,” and “ The
farmer sends one or two wagons to the village, and those who want
work simply go and climb in,” are typical accounts of how near-by
workers are recruited. Most city workers are engaged through a row
boss or agent with just as little formality. Said one city worker:
“ The row boss stands on the corner and shouts ‘ Strawberry hands!
Strawberry hands!’ and everyone goes who wishes.” Sometimes
only the children go, sometimes the entire family, including the
father; but usually it is the mother who takes the children out to
the farms for the day’s work.
Of the 502 families included in the study, 399 did not live on the
farms or lived there only for a few weeks at busy seasons. In 15 per
cent of these families the main source of livelihood was farm work;
but in the great majority the father or mother, or whoever was the
chief support of the family, had other work. One-fifth were domestic
servants; 12 per cent were employed in public service, most of them
by the United States Government at the naval base at Lambert
Point; 14 per cent were laborers, most of them at the ship or railroad
terminals; and 12 per cent were factory hands or mechanics. In a
somewhat larger proportion of families (34 per cent) than in any
other of the groups of farm workers were both parents literate.
No study of the home conditions was made in the case of the
68 families who lived in the city of Norfolk, but the 289 living at
65569°— 24------ 2

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C H IL D LABOR A N D T H E W O R K OE M O T H ER S

the time of the study in rural settlements appeared to be housed
rather more comfortably on the whole than farm families. The
houses were somewhat larger— two-thirds had at least four rooms—
and, though one-fourth of the families were crowded so that there
were two or more persons per room, congestion was not quite so
great as in the little cabins on the farms. Some of the laborers in a
small village of about 30 dwellings owned their houses, which were
kept in fair condition and were screened and provided with outside
privies. Others lived in a larger village of negro families near the
naval base at Lambert Point, which had been built by the United
States Government for employees at the naval base but later had
been turned over to private hands and sold or rented to colored fami
lies. The appearance of the plaster cottages in this settlement was
neat and attractive, but a close inspection revealed that the village
was deteriorating. A drainage system which had been -started was
left unfinished and open drains surrounded the cottages. Streets
were unpaved and there were no sidewalks. Electric facilities which
had been installed were of no use because the village was not supplied
with current.
On the whole the negro families whose women and children do
most of the work on the truck farms in the Norfolk area are at a low
economic and social level. In only two-thirds of the households
included in the study was the father supporting the family; in more
than one-fifth the mother was the chief breadwinner, and in nearly
one-fifth the main support was derived from domestic service,
chiefly that of mothers or older daughters. About three-tenths of
those responsible for the support of their families who reported on
unemployment and worked regularly had been out of work during
the year preceding the Children’s Bureau inquiry— 8.9 per cent of
those engaged only in farming, 34.9 per cent of those who did not
work on farms at all, and 37.5 per cent of those who had worked at
some other occupation in addition to farming. Eighteen per cent
had been unemployed for at least eight weeks during the year. In
addition 10 per cent of all the chief breadwinners worked only irregu
larly. In two-thirds of the families one or the other parent could
not read and write, and in 29 per, cent both were illiterate. Most of
them lived in uncomfortable, insanitary quarters, and a large pro
portion under the most wretched conditions— 24 per cent of the houses
of those living outside Norfolk had no toilet accommodations, 85 per
cent were unscreened, and 20 per cent were congested so that there
were at least four persons per sleeping room.

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O N N O R FO L K T R U C K F A R M S .

T a b l e 2.— O ccupation o f ch ief breadwinner in fam ilies with children under 16 years o f
age who worked on truck farm s, by duration o f his unem ploym ent during year preceding
study.
Families in which the chief breadwinner was unemployed for
specified period.
Occupation of chief breadwinner.
Total.

None.

4
8
Less
weeks,
than weeks,
less
less
4
than
weeks. than
8.
16.

16
weeks
and
over.

Irreg
ular.

Not re
ported.

Total..........................................

1502

278

Agricultural.........................................

2 252

142

v f

37~

Nonagricultural...................................

244

136

Domestic and personal service__
Manufacturing and mechanical...
Trade.............................................
Transportation.............................
Public service................................
All other........................................
More than one occupation............
Not reported.................................

37
37
19
48
43
16
42
2

25
15
13
23
31
11
17
1

3
3
1
5

1
3
1
3
3

1
5
1
5

2
5
3
4

2
2

3
4

2
8

1Includes three families having no chief breadwinner and three in which the information relative to
chief breadwinner was not reported.
*Includes 112 having other occupation in addition to farming.

FAR M W O R K D O N E BY CH ILD REN .

Most of the children who work on truck farms in the Norfolk
section of Virginia are employed only for harvesting the various
crops— chiefly strawberries, beans, and potatoes— though the com
paratively few whose homes are on farms do a great variety of jobs.
The majority of the 895 children included in the study because they
had worked at least 12 days had worked on not more than three
crops and at not more than three kinds of work; but about one-fifth
of the children (all living on or near farms except four, who were
seasonal workers) had worked on at least six truck crops, and 14 per
cent (also chiefly those living on or near farms) had done six or more
different kinds of work. (Table 4.) Some were hired, along with
the adult members of their families, as general workers, paid by the
day and employed at any work or on any crop raised on the farm.
One of the children included in the study, for example, a boy 12 years
of age who had worked irregularly throughout the year, missing 103
days of school, reported work on spinach, kale, radishes, straw
berries, peas, beans, cucumbers, melons, potatoes, and cabbages,
besides such general work by the day as plowing and cultivating.
A girl of 15 who had worked for more than four months during the
year had helped with work on kale, spinach, radishes, lettuce, carrots,
beets, beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, figs, and potatoes.
Although girls are rarely employed in this section for general farm
work, such as plowing, harrowing, and cultivating, the number of
girls and boys working on the farms is about the same— 426 of the
workers included in the study were boys and 469, girls. The ma
jority of the children 4t work are under 14 years of age. Only one
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C H IL D LABOR A N D T H E W O R K OE M O T H E R S

fifth of those included in the study were 14 or 15, and more than onefourth of the children (235) were under 10. Many children begin
working on the farms as soon as they can be trusted to do the simplest
tasks. Of 652 children in the study who were at least 10 years of
age, 311 (48 per cent) had begun field work before the age of 10. For
children living on farms, including both those of farm operators and
those of farm laborers, this proportion was 56 per cent.
T a b l e 3.— A ges o f children who worked on truck farm s, by sex o f child.
Working children under 16 years of age.
Boys.

Total.

Girls.

Age
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Number. distribu Number. distribu Number. distribu
tion.
tion.
tion.
Total...................................................

895

100.0

5 years, under 6............................................
6 years, under 7............................................
7 years, under 8............................................
8 years, under 9...........................................
9 years, under 10..........................................
10 years, under 11........................................
11 years, under 12........................................
12 years, under 13.............................. .........
13 years, under 14..... ..................................
14 years, under 15.......... .............................
15 years, under 16........................................
Not reported................................................

1
8
23
50
76
77
114
105
111
139
112
71
8

.1
.9
2.6
5.6
8.5
8.6
12.7
11.7
12.4
15.5
12.5
7.9
.9

426

100.0

469

100.0

.7
4.2
6.3
9.2
8.5
12.7
13.1
13.8
12.9
11.7
5.2
1.6

1
5
5
23
37
41
60
49
52
84
62
49
1

.2
1.1
1.1
4.9
7.9
8.7
12.8
10.4
11.1
17.9
13.2
10.4
.2

3
18
27
39
36
54
56
59
55
50
22
7

T a b le 4.— A ges o f children doing each specified kind o f field work.
Children under 16 years of age doing each specified kind of field work.
Ünder 8
years.

Kind of field work.

8 years,
under 10.

10 years,
under 12.

12 years,
under 14.

14 years,
under 16.

Age not
reported.

Total.
Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per
ber. cent1 ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1
Total...............
General:

895

82 • 9.2

75
39
46
105
42

Spooning kale or
spinach............
Transplanting..........
Harvesting:
Strawberries.......
Beans.................
Cucumbers.........
Kale or spinach..
R adishes....___
Potatoes *...........
Sweet potatoes2.

i
2

153

17.1

219

24.5

250

27.9

183

20.4

0.9

1
1
2
6
7
4

1.3
1.8

13
10
8
12
19
8

17.3
18.2

32
25
13
16
32
16

42.7
45.5

27
17
14
9
45
12

36.0
30.9

2
2
2
2
2

2.7
3.6

14
5
4

10.5
7.7
4.5

34
10
17

25.6
15.4
19.1

47
22
24

35.3
33.8
27.0

34
28
41

25.6
43.1
46.1

1.5

2.2

191
138
63
10
10
1
38
61
26
104
11

25.1
24.4
26.7
17.9

155 20.4
119 21.1
45 19.1
18 32.1
12
3
48 26.1
49 22.6
23 25.3
77 18.9
8

3
7

.4
1.2

3.6

2
2

1.1
.9

3
2

6.7

133
65
89

1.5

761
565
236
56
30
10
184
217
91
407
33

67
52
18
1

8.8
9.2
7.6
1.8

123
82
43
8
1

16.2
14.5
18.2
14.3

6
9
3
27

3.3
4.1
3.3
6.6

25
26
11
64
4

13.6
12.0
12.1
15.7

1 Per cent not shown where base is less than 50.

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18.1

20.7
28.1
28.6
25.6

30.5

222 29.2
167 29.6
67 28.4
17 30.4
7
6
65 35.3
70 32.3
28 30.8
132 32.4
8

42.9

* Gathering only.

1.9

ON NORFOLK T R U C K FARM S,

KINDS

Ol rppYA

Preparation of the soil.

Comparatively few children (Table 4), chiefly those whose homes
were on farms, did any work in connection with the preparation of
the soil for planting, such as plowing, disking, harrowing, or dragging.
With the exception of one 14-year-old girl who had plowed and
another who had harrowed, the children who reported such work
were all hoys. One child under 10 years of age reported plowing
and another harrowing and one-fifth of those doing this work were
under 12, hut more than one-third were 14 or 15 years of age. Plow
ing and harrowing and similar work are customarily done by the
day, the hours comprising a day’s work ranging from 10 to 13.
A 12-year-old boy whose working day was typical for children
doing such work reported that on the day previous to his interview
with the bureau agent he had plowed for 10 hours, from 7 in the
morning until noon and from 1 o’clock until 6. This boy had not
attended school during the year of the study but had worked regu
larly throughout the year at any kind of farm work his employer
required.
Planting and transplanting.

All the children who reported planting or transplanting, like those
reporting the general work of preparing the soil, lived on or near
farms and constituted but a small proportion of the child workers
included in the study. Planting was reported by 65 children, about
one-fourth of whom were under 12 years of age. (Table 4.) Several
had operated planting machines.
Transplanting is necessary in the case of a number of truck crops;
for example, cabbages, lettuce, sweet potatoes, cantaloupes, egg
plants, and tomatoes. Eighty-nine children, most of whom were
12 years of age or over (Table 4), reported drawing slips or young
plants from seed beds, dropping them at regular intervals in new
beds, or setting them out. Sometimes one individual does the entire
work of transplanting; at other times the work is divided. Some
families reported that in transplanting cabbages, for example,
children dropped the plants while adults did the setting. When in
the culture of strawberries selected plants from old vines are set
out to form new beds children sometimes dig up the old plants,
adults doing the dropping and setting.
On large farms the work of dropping and setting may be done by
machine, but the use of machinery was not found to any extent on
the Norfolk farms visited.
Cultivation of crops.

The care of truck crops includes freeing the plants from weeds or
other obstructions, such as hardened soil, and trimming down or

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C H IL D LABOR A N D T H E W O R K OF M O T H E R S

thinning out the plants themselves in order to insure the fullest
growth to fruit or vegetable. The various forms of the work may
be done with the fingers, with light hand tools, or with hand or horse
cultivators. In describing what they do women and children use
not only the familiar terms, “ weeding,” “ hoeing,” and “ thinning,”
but a number of colloquial terms such as “ grassing” for weeding,
“ chopping” for hoeing, and for forms of thinning “ scraping,”
“ shaving,” or “ spooning,” so called because in the care of spinach
and kale the superfluous plants, together with grass and weeds, are
chopped out with a large-sized kitchen spoon having one sharpened
edge. All this work, unless done with a long-handled hoe or culti
vator, involves stooping over the plants or working on hands and
knees.
More children do work in connection with the cultivation of crops
than do plowing or planting. (Table 4.) Operating a cultivator
was reported by 39 children, all living on or near farms. With the
exception of one 14-year-old girl all were boys, and most of them
were 12 years of age or older. Hoeing was reported by 105 children,
45 boys and 60 girls, including the same proportion (25 per cent)
under 12 years of age as reported using a cultivator. Forty-six
children, 41 per cent of whom were under 12, had weeded. A few
children had worked in the potato fields, ridding plants of insects—
“ spraying” or “ bugging,” they called it.
Harvesting.

♦It is in harvesting that the great majority of the children are em
ployed, especially those who go out to the farms from little rural
settlements or from Norfolk. The harvesting of strawberries,2
beans, potatoes, and peas probably requires the greatest numbers of
extra hands. Strawberries, beans, and peas mature rapidly, and
when the time for picking arrives the fields are overrun with workers.
Strawberries are picked into quart baskets, beans and peas ordi
narily into 5-peck hampers. When the receptacles are full the chil
dren carry them to the end of the row, where credit for them is given
by the row boss in the form of a check or ticket. Seven hundred and
sixty-one children in the study reported that they had picked straw
berries during the current season, 565 that they had picked beans,
and 236 that they had picked peas. In each of these groups about
one-fourth of the children were under 10 years of age.
Four hundred and seven children, of whom 22.4 per cent were
under 10 years of age, reported gathering white potatoes; and 33
* In 1919 Norfolk County had 405 acres in strawberries, 766 in beans, and 184 in peas. Probably more
children pick strawberries, however, than harvest any other crop, owing to the fact that it is the most
perishable of the crops grown; but it should be borne in mind in comparing the proportions of children
reported at work on various crops that the study was made at the height of the strawberry season and pos
sibly some of the children interviewed regarding their year’s work were not those who worked on other
crons.

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O N N O R FO L K T R U C K F A R M S.

children reported gathering sweet potatoes.3 (Table 4.) Many
workers thought gathering potatoes the hardest work that they did.
The work consists of several operations, sometimes divided among
several workers. The potatoes are first loosened from the earth
with a hoe, a light plow, or a potato digger. They are then lifted
out of the soil by hand— “ scratched,” “ graveled,” or “ grabbled”
out, according to the idioms of the colored workers— and sorted as
they are tossed into piles. Small “ carries” may be taken to the
end of the row and there dumped into barrels, but barreling may be
done in the row, and many workers complained of the heavy barrels
which they had to “ tote.” (See frontispiece.) Sometimes women
and children left the barrels for the men to move, but others lifted
them themselves. Workers reported that even the small hampers
were heavy.
Many children (217 of those included in the study) pulled and
bunched radishes, and a number (91 of the children interviewed)
pulled and bunched beets. Radishes are sometimes washed before
they are bunched and packed for shipping, and children are set to
doing this work, which means keeping the hands in cold water for
long stretches of time.
Cutting kale and spinach was reported by 184 children. (Table 4.)
This work is done with a sharp knife and involves the danger of
cutting hands or other parts of the body, as well as the fatigue of
constant stooping or crawling and exposure to cold and dampness,
for kale and spinach are cut throughout the winter. “ It’s just plaii^
freezing,” said one mother who cut kale in January. “ Your hands
and feet get so cold you can hardly move them.”
A few children (30) had picked tomatoes, and a few more (56) had
picked cucumbers. These vegetables are picked from the vines and
placed in crates, although occasionally cucumbers are gathered by
the barrel. (See frontispiece.) Tomatoes are sometimes laid in hay
or wrapped in paper. A five-eighths-bushel basket of tomatoes, the
size commonly used, weighs, when full, approximately 40 pounds,„
and “ toting,” or carrying, the hampers and crates was reported to
be heavy work.
Only 10 children reported that they had picked melons during the
season covered by the inquiry. Cantaloupes and other melons are
pulled from the vines in much, the same way as cucumbers and toma
toes, but the work is more fatiguing because the fruit is heavier.
Watermelons are “ toted” one by one to the pile or wagon at the end
of the row.
* While the white-potato acreage in Norfolk County is 5 times as large as that devoted to the raising of
sweet potatoes, there is some possibility that these figures do not represent precisely the relative propor
tions of children engaged in gathering potatoes and sweet potatoes, respectively, for the reason that the
survey was completed before the harvesting of sweet potatoes had begun, and workers not engaged on
crops upon which work was being done at the time of the bureau inquiry would not have been included.

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C H IL D LABOR A H D T H E W O R K OF M O T H E R S

Other work.

A few children had done work on parsley, which is “ chopped” in
April; carrots, which are pulled and bunched in April and May;
lettuce and cabbage, which are cut in the spring and again in the fall;
cauliflower, gathered chiefly in May; onions-, gathered in July; figs,
gathered from August to December; and collards and turnip tops.
Besides work on truck crops children reported working on com,
cotton, tobacco, and peanuts. Most of these children lived in
Nansemond County, which has a considerable acreage in cotton and
peanuts.
Many of the rural children reported work during the year other
than that in the fields; 138, most of whom were boys, had had mis
cellaneous daily chores to do, and 190 other children had cared for
chickens
DURATION OP FIELD WORK.

Most of the children working on the track farms are employed only
a few weeks, but some work regularly for several months and a few
throughout the year. (Table 5.)
More than two-fifths of the children included in the study who re
ported the duration of their work had done field work regularly for less
than one month, or 26 days, during the year. On the other hand, 67
(8.6 per cent) had worked regularly (thatris, practically every day) for
four months or more, including 14 children who had worked the
entire year. In addition, 56 (7.2 per cent) had worked irregularly a
total of four months or more, including 18 who had done some work in
the fields during every month of the year. Some of the children who
had worked regularly during the entire year were as young as 12
years, while those who had worked irregularly for 12 months ranged
in age from 8 to 15 years. The following are typical examples of
children working regularly throughout the year:
A 13-year-old bo y was employed as a laborer at $1.50 for a 10-hour day.

O n the day

previous to the interview he had been loading cabbages into a cart, hauling them away
from the field, packing them in crates, and taking the packed crates to a boat landing
at the edge of the field.
Another bo y 12 years of age, not attending school, alternated with his mother in
going to the fields, staying at home to care for two younger children when his mother
worked.

On the day for which information was secured he had been in a strawberry

field for six hours— from 8 a. m . till 2 p. m .— picking and capping

berries.

This boy

had plowed, harrowed, and cared for every crop raised on his employer’s farm, includ
ing kale, spinach, strawberries, beans, cucumbers, potatoes, and watermelons.
4“ Capping” means removing the hulls or caps from berries which are to be sent directly to a cannery or
preserving establishment.

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O F N O R FO L K T R U C K F A R M S .

T a b l e 5.— D uration o f field work perform ed by children on truck farm s, by age o f child.

Children under 16 years of age who did field work for specified period.
Regular workers.
Age.
Total.

Irregular workers.

Not
1
2
4
8
8
re
Less 4
Less mo., mos., mos., mos.,
mos., mos., 12 port
12
than
Total. than less less less less
Total.
less
less
ed.
4
mos.
Imo. than than than than mos.
mos. than than
2.
4.
8.
12.
12.
8.

Total.......................

895

654

337

151

Under 6 years...................
6 years, under 8...............
8 years, under 10..............
10’ years, under 12............
12 yearsj under 14............
14 years, under 16............
Not reported....................

9
73
153
219
250
184
7

8
60
124
166
166
123
7

4
43
77
89
69
50
5

4
13
24
38
51
20
1

99
4
14
26
26
29

7
10
9
12
1

2
3
4
5

124

7
7

1
7
17
25
45
29

6
12
13
24
13

1
1
1
7
12
7

117
6
12

2
4

7
5

39
32

HOURS OF WORK.

The families were questioned in regard to the working hours of
the children on the last working day preceding the bureau agent’s
interview on which the customary amount of field work had been
done. As the interviews were held in May, June, and July, the hours
reported by most of the children were for picking strawberries or
beans or gathering potatoes, though some reported work on other
crops on their last working day, and some had worked by the day
as regular farm laborers. The hours for picking strawberries are
somewhat fewer than the average for other kinds of work, because «
strawberries must be shipped on the day they are picked and the
pickers stop work as soon as it is too late to send the berries out on
that day’s shipment. Children employed regularly as farm laborers
reported the longest hours of work. Girls worked about as long
hours as boys.
About two-fifths (41.1 per cent) of the children had had a working
day of less than six hours, but the great majority of this group had
worked four or more hours. Twenty-seven and four-tenths per cent
had worked between six and eight hours. On the other hand, 156
children, or one-sixth of the total number, reported that they had
spent more than 8 hours in the fields on their last working day,
and 76 had worked 10 to 14 hours. (Table 6.) Fifteen children
under 10 and 57 under 12 years of age had worked more than eight
hours.

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C H IL D LABOR A N D T H E W O R K OF M O T H E R S

T a b l e 6 .— H ours o f field work p
‘ erform ed on typical d ay1 by children on truck farm s,

by age o f child.

Children under 16 years of age who worked specified field hours.
Age.
Total.

Over 8
10
12
Less 4 horns, 6 horns,
Not
than 4
less
less 8 hours. hours, hours, hours report
less
less
and
hours. than 6. than 8.
ed.
than 10. than 12. over.

Total............................

895

272

245

- 80

Under 6 years...................
6 years, tinder 8.....................
8 years, under 10...............
10 years, under 12................
12 years, under 14..................
14 years, under 16..................
Not reported................

9
73
153
219
250
183
8

1
11
20
30
20
14

3
32

3
16
36
53
82
54
1

2
7
12
18
22
18
3

3
7
28
23
18
1

10
21
25
2

7
12
13

69
65
37
1

1 On day preceding the visit of agent or, if that day was not typical of the season, work on next preceding
typical day.

Many of the children (228 boys and 308 girls) reported work in
addition to that in the fields. Girls had generally spent some time
in housework, the boys whose homes were in rural districts had had
chores to do, and city and village boys had sold papers or caddied.
Although only 8.5 per cent of the children reported w orking 10 or
more hours in the field on their last working day, 15.6 per cent
reported that the length of their working day had been 10 or more
hours when work other than field work was included. Compared
with the 41.1 per cent reporting less than six hours of field work is
the 25.4 per cent reporting less than six hours as the length of the
entire working day.
Most of the children did not begin their field work very ,early in
the morning. Three children had begun before 5 a. m.; 36 others,
including 10 children under 10 years of age, had begun work between
5 and 6 a. m. The large majority, however, had not begun before
7 o’clock, and a considerable number (377, or 42 per cent) not until
8 o’clock or later. However, the workers who came to the farms
from Norfolk had to rise early, for the farmers made a practice of
having the truck, special street car, or other conveyance start from
town by 6 a. m.
EARNINGS.

General farm work, such as plowing, harrowing, and planting, and
some of the work of caring for the crops, such as hoeing potatoes or
weeding strawberries, was ordinarily paid for by the day. Children
doing such work received from 50 cents to $1.75 and in no case re
ported fewer than 10 hours of work. More children did piecework,
however, than daywork. The price paid for piecework varied with
the crop. The cultivation of crops, though sometimes paid for by
the day or hour, was often paid for by the row, or by a definite number
of feet or yards, usually 100 yards, in a row. For example, one 12-

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O N N O R FO L K T R U C K F A R M S .

year-old boy reported “ chopping” beans—that is, trimming the
plants with a hoe— at the rate o f 8 cents a row. Two girls, 8 and 12
years of age, who reported “ Angling” (a local term for weeding)
cucumbers were together paid 25 cents for three rows. For thinning
beets, sweet potatoes, and other crops also, workers were paid by the
row. In the case of kale or spinach, which are planted in triple rows,
a “ row ” usually meant 100 yards of a three-row bed.
For cutting potato “ eyes” or sprouts, the children received from
12^ to 25 cents a barrel. Setting out cabbage, lettuce, strawberry
plants, and tomato plants was paid for by the row, the price varying
somewhat with the age of the child who did the work. One girl of
12 set out cabbage plants at the rate of 10 cents for 100 yards, and
a 15-year-old girl doing the same work reported that she had received
from 15 to 25 cents.
Harvesters were paid by the number of containers which they
filled. Checks or tickets, given to the workers as they brought their
baskets to the row boss, were cashed by the farmer or his manager
on Saturday at the end of the day’s work. Strawberries brought 2
cents a quart box, except when the field had been previously picked
or for other reasons the yield was poor, and then the rates varied
from 3 to 5 cents a quart. Workers reported from 20 to 40 cents a
hamper for beans and from 25 to 40 cents for peas, the 5-peck hamper
being the size in common use. The rates reported for gathering
potatoes ranged from 12 to 20 cents a barrel.
The condition of the crop was a determining factor in the amount
which a worker could earn. When the fruit or vegetables were
abundant, gathering was a fairly speedy process; when the yield was
poor, the work was slow. To compensate somewhat for the difficul
ties of working on a poor crop farmers ordinarily paid a higher rate;
for example, the work done after the first picking, known as “ scrap
ping»” was usually paid for at a higher rate to make up for the longer
time required to fill the baskets. High rates were, therefore, not
always an indication of higher earnings. It was found, for instance,
that the hourly earnings of bean pickers receiving 30 cents a hamper
ranged higher than those of pickers receiving 35 cents a hamper.
Data on the children’s earnings were secured for the last working
day preceding the bureau agent’s interview with the family. More
than half of the 452 children reporting their earnings had received
for their work less than 10 cents an hour.5 The largest amount per
hour earned by any child was 50 cents, received by a 15-year-old girl
gathering potatoes. The ordinary wage for an adult male laborer on
the Norfolk truck farms at the time of the study was $2.50 for a day
6 Inasmuch as some of the children were paid by the hour and others at piece rates, and the number of
horns worked varied widely, for purposes of comparison earnings have been computed for all children on
an hourly basis.

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of 10 hours or more and for a woman laborer $1.50, or 25 and 15
cents an hour, respectively. Seventy-one and seven-tenths per cent
of the children earned less than 15 cents an hour, and 95.8 per cent
earned less than 25 cents. (Table 7.) Workers earned less picking
strawberries than doing any other kind of work.
T a b l e 7.— H ourly earnings o f children who worked on truck farm s, by age o f child.
Children under 16 years of age reporting specified hourly earnings.
Age.
Total.

40
30
10
15
20
25
5
Less
cents, cents, cents, cents, cents, cents
than 5 cents,
and
less
less
less
less
less
less
cents. than
10. than 15. than 20. than 25. than 30. than 40. over.

Total............................

1452

150

16
19
16
10
4
5
4
3

15 yearsi under 16..................

32
41
36
62
60
45
74
60
42

11
13
12
25
23
18
26
14
8

4
4
1
15
10
13
20
21
9

1
4
5
8
15
5
11
10
12

1
2
2
6
4
9
7
7

1
2

2
3
.1

2
2
2

1 Excludes 443 children for whom hourly earnings were not reported.

Table 8 shows the daily earnings of the children in relation to the
number of hours they had worked. Very few of the youngest work
ers could give an account of their earnings even for one day, for many
of them emptied their berries or vegetables into their mothers’ con
tainers and received no pay checks or tickets of their own. Many
of the mothers regarded the work of these young children as more of
a hindrance than a help and brought them to the fields chiefly
because it was the easiest way to take care of them. (See frontis
piece.) Of the 32 children under 8 reporting (the majority had been
in the fields at least five hours), none had earned as much as 75 cents
on the day for which information was obtained, and 29 of the 32
had earned less than 50 cents. Even of the 318 children 8 to 13
years of age, who formed the great bulk of the children working on
the farms, only a minority had earned as much as 75 cents, though
most of them had worked five or more hours. Of 29 of these children
who had worked more than eight hours, 13 had received less than 75
cents and all except 1 less than $1.25 for their day’s work.
Fourteen and fifteen year old children earned somewhat larger
amounts than did younger ones. Their hours of work were longer,
as a rule; most of them had worked six hours or more on their last
working day, and a larger proportion than among the younger children
had worked over eight hours. Hence, the majority had earned at
least 75 cents; and 15 children (15 per cent of the total number of
those 14 or 15 years of age) had earned $1.25 or more.

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T a b l e 8 .— D aily earnings o f children who worked on truck farm s, by hours o f field work

on typical day1 and by age o f child.
Children under 16 years of age reporting specified daily earnings.
Hours of field work on typical
day,1 and age of child.

25 cents, 50 cents, 75 cents,
Less
than 25 less than less than less than
75.
50.
cents.
$1.

Total.

9
20
14
10
12
3
10

3
5
10
14
6
3
7

1
3
11
4
4
8

3
4
1

3
5
1
2
2

5
9
4
7
4

1
3
1
4
5
3
3

1
3
2
-5
3
4
2

3
6
2
4

121

113

5
8
8
7
2
2

2
5
2
2

3
2
4
5
2
2

318

45
67
55
55
42
25
29

22
17
9
5
3
3

11
24
15
15
14
8
3

14 years, undqj 16.......................

102

Over 8 hours.........................

10
21
9
21
20
9
12

8 years, under 14.........................

5 hours’, less than 6 ..............
7 hoursj less than 8..............
8 hours..................................

1
1

$1.25 and
oyer.

»452

Total..................................

$1,less
than
$1.25.

1
2

i Hours worked on day preceding visit of agent, or if that day was not typical of the season, on the next
preceding typical day.
1 Excludes 443 children for whom earnings were not reported.

The earnings, especially of the younger children, seem a meager
return for the hours of labor, the physical strain of constant stooping,
the exposure to heat and dampness, and for many the loss of time in
school, that the work entailed. The State aims through its child
labor law to prevent such a sacrifice of the children’s welfare in most
occupations. But under the State child labor law as amended in
1922,6 as well as the one in effect at the time of the study (1921),7 no
restriction whatever was placed upon the work of children on farms
except such restrictions as were imposed by the compulsory school
attendance law.8 Four-fifths of the children reported as doing
farm work in the districts where the study was made were under 14
years of age, the minimum for occupations covered by the child labor
law; one-half the farm-working children were under 12.
In most of the families the children’s earnings, small as they were,
probably added appreciably to the income, and in some they may
have been considered actually necessary for support. The State
•Virginia Session Laws of 1920, chs. 390 and 507.
Virginia Session Laws of 1918, ch. 204.
8 See p. 19.

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OF M O T H E R S

mothers’ pension a c t 9 provides the possibility of aid for fatherless
families, though up to the present time little has been done under the
act on account of the failure of counties or cities to appropriate
the necessary funds. Under its provisions a widowed, deserted, or
divorced mother of a child or children under 16 years of age, or a
mother whose husband is physically or mentally incapacitated and
who would otherwise be obliged to work regularly away from home,
may receive such aid as is necessary to save the children from neglect
and to furnish suitable education. As amended in 1922, the law
provides for reimbursement by the State of one-third of the amount
expended by any county for mothers’ pensions, a provision which
may be expected to stimulate local action. Up to the present time
no State appropriations for the purpose appear to have been made.
SC H O O LIN G OF CH ILD REN W O R K IN G O N TH E FAR M S.
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.

Seven hundred and seventy-two of the children were reported as
having attended school during the school year preceding tie study.
School-attendance records were obtained from the schools for 605 of
these children. (Table 9.) Twenty-seven per cent had attended less
than half and only 53.4 per cent had attended as much as 70 per cent
of the school term. These records compare unfavorably with those
of other colored child workers. In the peninsula counties of Mary
land, for example, 13 per cent of the negro school children included
in the Children’s Bureau study10 had attended less than half and
two-thirds had attended 70 per cent or more of the term.
T a b le 9.— School attendance, during year -preceding study, o f children who worked on
truck farm s.
Working children between 6 and 16 years of age attending school specified
per cent of school term.
Days of school attendance.
Total.

25 per
cent.

25 per
cent,
less
than
50.

50 per
cent,
less
than
60.

60 per
cent,
less
than
70.

70 per
cent,
less
than
80.

80 per
cent,
less
than
90.

113

106

20
22
4

2
38
26
4

1
40
13
7

1
2
87

Total............................

°606

Under 20 days........................
20 days, under 40...................
40 days, under 60...................
60 days, under 80...................
80 days, under 100.................
100 days, under 120...............
120 days, under 140...............
140 days, under 160...............
160 days and over..................

20
39
70
55
66
72
162
106
16

20
33

6
70
33
4

90 per
cent,
100 per
less
centthan
100.
154

» Excludes 114 children between 6 and 16 years of age who did not attend school and 166 for whom no
school records were obtained.
•Virginia Session Laws of 1922, ch. 488.
10 Child Labor on Maryland Truck Farms.
Washington, 1923.

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Ü. S. Children’s Bureau Publication No. 123, p. 49.

O N N O R FO L K T R U C K F A R M S .

State requirements in regard to school attendance were very low
in Virginia at the time of the study. The State compulsory school *
attendance law provided only that all children between 8 and 12
years of age (with certain exemptions) should attend school for at
least 16 weeks during the year.11 Despite this exceedingly low
standard 100 children, or 26.9 per cent of those between 8 and 12
years of age included in the study, had not attended school during
the year preceding the inquiry for even so much as 16 weeks, and
of these, 26 had not attended school at all during the year.
Since the study was made the State compulsory school attendance
law has been amended.12 The compulsory school attendance age has
been raised to 14 years, and the provisions of the law relating to
enforcement have been considerably strengthened. Any city or
county, however, may by vote of the school board, the “ governing
body of the town or city concurring,” exempt itself from all the provi
sions of the law. It is interesting to note that the percentage of
negro illiteracy in the State, as reported by the census of 1920, was
23.5.13 “ In general,” states the United States Bureau of the Census,
“ the illiterate population as shown by the census reports should be
understood as representing only those persons who have had no
schooling whatever.” 14
C A U S E S O F A B SE N C E .

Farm work was the chief cause of absence, according to state
ments made by the children’s parents. (Table 10.) A few children
had stayed out of school because of indifference, because the schools
were crowded, or because they could not afford to buy schoolbooks
or suitable clothing. One family in which there were six children
never had enough clothes for all the children to go to school on the
same day. About one-fourth of the children for whom information
was secured had lost time because of bad weather or bad roads, but
absence for this reason was usually of less than 10 days’ duration.
While the proportion of those reporting absence on account of illness
was 47.9 per cent as compared with 36.7 per cent for absence on ac
count of farm work, the total amount of absence due to illness was
considerably less than that due to farm work. Thus, 19 per cent had
missed 20 days or more on account of farm work, but only 9 per cent
had missed the same amount of schooling on account of illness.
n Virginia Session Laws of 1918, sec. 138, ch. 412.
u Virginia Session Laws of 1922, ch. 381.
Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, Voi.
MJTW0., p. 10

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in ,

Population, p.

1058.

•

C H IL D LABOR A N D T H E W O R K OF M O T H E R S

T a b l e 10.— D uration o f absence from school fo r each specified cause, during school year
preceding study , o f w orking children attending school.
Working children between 6 and 16
years of age for whom reports were
obtained as to absence from school.
On ac
count of
On ac
On ac
bad
From all count of count of
weather
farm
causes.
illness. and bad
work.
roads.

Duration o iabsence.

606

3
603
80
107
69
32
105
66
66
78

310
180
46
41
21
18
27
13
8
6
116

236
217
120
54
18
7
4
5

334
106
92
14

9
153

166

i Excludes 114 children of these ages who did not attend school and 166 for whom no school records were
obtained.

RETARDATION.

The extent of retardation among the children included in the
study was greater than that among any other group of rural child
workers studied by the Children’s Bureau. The majority (55 per
cent) of the children whose grade was reported had completed only
the first or second grade or had not completed any grade; only
14 children were in grades above the sixth, and none was in high
school, although 169 children were 14 or 15 years of age and should
normally have reached the seventh or a higher grade. Of 571 children
8 to 15 years of age who reported their grade in school 486, or 85 per
cent, were below the grades which they should have reached accord
ing to the commonly accepted standard of progress;16 over one-half of
the retarded were three or more years below the grades considered
normal for their ages. (Table 11.) Among colored children working
on truck farms in Maryland, both in Anne Arundel County near
Baltimore and in the peninsula counties, where the Children’s Bureau
has made studies of farm work and school attendance, about 71 per
cent were found to be retarded.18
The chief cause of the slow progress in school of so large a propor
tion of the children appears to be the general indifference in regard
to their schooling, as a result of which the children enter school late
and attend irregularly. While the proportion of all the children who
were retarded was very large, the proportion retarded among those
u The standard adopted by the U. S. Bureau of Education and other authorities classifies as retarded,
children entering the first grade at 8 years of age or over, the second grade at 9 years of age or over, and so on.
i« Child Labor on Maryland Truck Farms. U. S. Children’s Bureau Publication No. 123, pp. 20 and 49.
Washington, 1923.

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O K N O R FO L K T R U C K F A R M S .

who had entered late and among those who had the most unsatis
factory records of attendance was even larger. To maintain normal
standing, a child not only must complete a grade each year but must
have entered school before he was 8 years of age. One hundred and
nineteen of the 571 children had not entered school until they were
8 years of age or over; of these, 114, or 95.8 per cent, were retarded,
and all would have been retarded if 5 had not made more than
average progress after entering school. The influence of low per
centages of attendance upon school progress is indicated by the fact
that ,of the 102 children who had attended school less than half the
term 98 were retarded.
T a b l e 1 1 . — Retardation o f children who worked on truck farm s, by percentage o f attendance
during school year preceding study.

Working children between 8 and 16 years of age.
Retarded.

Per cent of attendance.
Total.

1 year.

Total.
Num
ber.

Per
cent.

Num
ber.

2 years.

Per
cent.

3 years.

Num
ber.

Per
cent.

Num
ber.

Per
cent

Total.............................

1571

486

85.1

119

20.8

109

19.1

258

45.2

Under 50 per cent..................
50 per cent, under 80.............
80 per cent, under 100...........

102
143
204
2
120

98
129
146
1
112

98.1
90.2
71.6

14
24
53
1
27

13.7
16.8
26.0

17
29
42

16.7
20.3
20.6

67
76
51

65.7
53.1
25.0

22.5

17.5

53.3

Not*reported.............. .'.........

93.3

1 Excludes children who did not attend school during year preceding study or for whom either age as of
September following the completion of grade or grade completed was not reported.

W O R K OF M O T H E R S .
CONDITIONS OF WORK.

Because of the close bearing that a mother’s activities have upon
the welfare of her children, the survey included a brief inquiry into
the work of mothers. In 491 (that is, all except 11) of the families
included in the study a mother, a stepmother, or a foster mother
was present. It is significant of the economic condition of these
families (see p. 6) that 90 per cent of the mothers were gainfully
employed. Only 50 of the 491 were free to give all their time to the
care of their households and their children. Three hundred and
seventy of the women worked on truck farms, including 166 who were
also employed in other occupations. Most of those who did other
work than farming (179 out of 234) went out at day work, usually
as laundresses, or did laundry work at home.

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C H IL D LABOR A N D T H E W O R K OF M O T H E R S

Women probably worked on tbe farms more uniformly throughout
the year than children did, though they were not employed for plow
ing or harrowing, as boys were. Women in farm laborers’ families
living on their employers’ farms and those who came out by the day
from neighboring villages did a greater variety of work than those
who lived on their own or rented farms or came from the city to
work, as Table 12, showing the more important kinds of field work
reported by the women, indicates. City women and seasonal work
ers who lived on the farms for only a short time were employed prin
cipally in connection with harvesting.
Although the majority of the 370 women who worked on the
truck farms had spent less than eight hours in the fields on their
last working day, field work in addition to household duties resulted
in long hours of work. Moreover, for those who lived in rural
districts the care of pigs and chickens and other chores and, for those
who did not live on farms, the trips to and from the fields made a
long working day.
T a b l e 12. — K inds o f field work 'performed by mothers who worked on truck farm s, by work

status o f fa m ily.
Working mothers in families of specified work status.
Other laborers.
Kind of field work.

Labor
Owners ers
Living
Total.
and resident
on
Living Living
tenants.
on
farms
Total.
in
in
farms.
tempo villages. city.
rarily.

Total........................................... ............

370

282

Planting............................................................
Transplanting....................................................
Hoeing.........7....................................................
Weeding.............................................................
Spooning kale or spinach..................................
Picking strawberries.........................................
Picking beans....................................................
Picking peas......................................................
Picking tomatoes..............................................
Picking cucumbers...........................................
Pulling beets.....................................................
Pulling radishes................................................
Gathering potatoes...........................................
Gathering sweet potatoes.................................
Cutting kale or spinach.....................................
Harvesting all ofher truck crops......................
All other field work...........................................

26
53
73
27
103
312
248
115
16
31
46
117
192
20
131
23
58

4
6
9
5
8
15
16
10
1
6
5
10
16
4
11
4
7

4
13
20
12
40
48
41
34
2
11
11
21
55
3
45
5
14

18
34
44
10
55
249
191
71
13
15
30
86
121
13
75
14
37

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208

2
1
2
32
18
5

18
34
41
9
52
178
150
64
13
13

2
2
2
7
5
4

81
100
13
70
14
33

1
1
39
23
2

3
14

O N N O R F O L K TRTJCK F A R M S .

T a b l e 13.— H ours o f field work on typical day1 o f mothers Who worked on truck farm s,
by total hours o f w ork.
Mothers who worked specified field hours on typical day.1
Total hours of work
on typical day.i

Total..................

Total.

370

11
12
9
10
8
4
Less
6
Not
than hours, hours, hours, hours, hours, hours, hours
re
less
and ported.
less
less
less
less
less*
4
hours. than 6. than 8. than 9. than 10. than 11. than 12. over.
44
3
12
g
2

10 hours, less than 11..
11 hours, less than 12..
12 hours, less than 13..
13 hours, less than 14..

40
38
35
11
12
61

i
2
3
2
2
9

109
16
37
14
g
8
6
8
1
1
12

106

IS
23
25
u

7
4
2
4
12

2
3
15
7
4
3

4
3
10
5
1

2
4
10
1
1

2
1

1
1

1 Hours of work on day preceding visit of agent, or if that day was not typical of the season, on next pre
ceding typical day.

A day’s farm work probably brought in a somewhat larger wage
than other kinds of work which the women could find to do. Women
were paid both by the day and as pieceworkers. Women day laborers,
though paid considerably less than male farm laborers, usually
earned more than the average pieceworker. The most common
wage for day work was $1.50, whereas only 35.7 per cent of those
reporting had earned as much as $1.50 at piecework on their last
working day. Crops are often poor and the rates are low. On the
other hand, it was possible for a few to earn more at piece rates
than as day laborers— some of the women had earned more than $3—
and in general the pieceworkers’ hours were shorter. Thus, with
14 exceptions, the women working at piece rates and reporting their
daily earnings had worked less than 10 hours, the ordinary working
day for the farm laborer; the majority of them had worked less than
8 hours. Of all the women workers 64.2 per cent had earned less
than $1.50 on the day for which earnings were reported, including 61
(34 per cent) who had earned less than $1. (Table 14.)

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C H IL D LABOR A N D T H E W O R K OF M O T H E R S

T a b l e 14.— D aily earnings o f mothers who worked on truck farm s, by num ber o f hours

o f field work on typical day.1

Working mothers who reported specified daily earnings.
Sours of field work on
typical day.i

25
Less cents,
than
less
Total. 25 than
cents. 50
cents.

Total..................................... 2 179
Less than 4 hours...........................
4 hours, less than 5........................
5 hours, less than 6........................
6 hours) less than 7.....................
7 hours, less than 8........................
8 hours...........................
Over 8 hours, less than 10.............
10 hours, less than 13.....................

29
26
27
30
24
12
17
14

50
75
cents, cents,
$1, $1.25,
less
less less
than less than than
than
75
$1.25. $1.50.
cents. $1.

$1.50, $1.75, $2, $2.50
less less less
than than than and
$1.75. $2. $2.50. over.

1
2

7
5
1
2
1

6
8
5
2

2
2
4
2
7
i

8
6
2
3
7
3
i
4

1
1

3
1
4
4
2
2
2

2
5
1
3
2
1

11
2

1
2
3
1
i

6
i
6

1 Hours of field work on day preceding visit of agent, or if that day was not typical of the season, on next
preceding typical day.
2 Excludes 191 mothers for whom no report ef daily earnings was secured.

EFFECT OF MOTHERS’ WORK ON THE WELFARE OF THE CHILDREN.

About one-third of the mothers who did farm work (130 of the
370) had children under 6 years of age. Thirty-four of these women
brought their babies to the fields, placing them in any spot at the
edge of the fields where they could be watched by children or adults
near at hand. The majority, however (95 out of 130), left their
young children at home, most of them to be cared for by boys or
girls only slightly older. Some of the yeunger children included in
the study as working children were brought to the fields and put to
work because, as has been said, that was the easiest way to watch
them.
Lack of time and fatigue in the case of mothers who were away
from home working in the fields all day were no doubt factors, along
with poverty and ignorance, in causing irregular and unsuitable
meals. Many of the families “ skipped” a meal, usually in the
middle of the day. Almost one-fourth of them had had fewer than
three meals on the day previous to the agent’s interview, including
four families that had had but one meal, eaten in the afternoon at
the close of the day’s work. One family consisting of the mother, a
girl of 15 years, and a boy of 12, had picked strawberries from 6

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ON N O R FO L K T R U C K F A R M S .

a. m. till 3 p. m. “ We just can’t seem to get up early enough to
get breakfast,” said the mother, who went on to explain that they
worked straight through the day with “ nothing to eat but snuff.”
On Sunday, however, they had bread and butter and eggs for break
fast.
Although many of the families lived on farms, few had milk,
butter, fresh fruits, and vegetables in their dietaries. (Table 15.)
The families that were interviewed were questioned concerning their
use of milk and were asked also to state what foods they had had for
each of the meals on the day preceding the interview, or, if that day’s
meals were considered not typical of the usual diet, on the last day
on which their food had been typical of what the families were accus
tomed to having. Of the 402 families reporting on the use of milk,
304 (75.6 per cent) were not accustomed to having it daily— 109
(83.8 per cent) of the 130 families living on farms, including those of
farm owners, tenants, and resident and seasonal farm laborers, and
195 (71.7 per cent) of the 272 living in rural settlements or in Norfolk.
Only 11 families had as much as 1 pint of milk per person a day.
In spite of the fact that the families were interviewed in the height
of the season for fresh vegetables, 152 families (31 per cent of those
reporting) had eaten no green vegetables on the preceding day; 445
(90.8 per cent) had had no fruit; and 234 (47 per cent) had had no
butter.
Cows were scarce in the vicinity of Norfolk— the land was so val
uable for raising truck, it was said, that few farmers were willing to
give space to raising feed or pasturing cows— and milk was expensive.
The lack of fruit in the diet may also be explained by the expense.
The fact, however, that most families could have had green vegetables
from the farms on which they worked, whereas almost one-third of
them reported eating none, indicates that ignorance of the value of
certain food elements as well as expense was the cause of inadequate
diet. Taste rather than a recognition of what belongs in a wellbalanced diet determined whether or not vegetables and, no doubt,
other kinds of food were eaten. Some of the workers said they did
not like vegetables, others that they got tired of them, especially
when they had to pick them all day long.

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C H I U ) LABOR À H D T H E W O R K OR M O T H E R S

T a b l e 15.— D aily dietaries o f fam ilies with w orking children, according to am ount o f
m ilk per person.

Families with working children under 16 years of age.
Having dietaries containing—
Presence of fruit and vegetables1in die
tary and amount of milk per person.
Total.

Not re
porting on
presence
Beth
Butter Protein2 Neither of butter
butter
butter
or pro
but no
and pro but not
nor
tein,2 or
protein.2
butter. protein.2
tein.2
both.

Total families.....................................

602

236

Having 1 pint milk per person...................
Both vegetables and fruit present.......
Vegetables present, but no fruit..........
Neither vegetables nor fruit present. . .
Fruit present, but no vegetables..........
Having less than 1 pint milk per person...
Both vegetables and fruit present.......
Vegetables present, but no fruit..........
Neither vegetables nor fruit present. . .
Fruit present, but no vegetables..........
Presence of one or both not reported...
No milk........................................................
Both vegetables and fruit present.......
Vegetables present, but no fruit..........
Neither vegetables nor fruit present...
Fruit present, but no vegetables..........
Presence of one or both not reported...
Condensed milk only...................................
Not reported................................................

11
1
6
3
1
69
6
44
17
2
1
304
16
197
76
8
7
18
100

10
1
5
3
1
39
4
24
9
1
1
130
9
79
36
2
4
12
46

261

1
1
7
1
4
1
1

126
7
79
35
4
1
5
46

14
1
1
4

16
7
36

23
4
2
i
1
2

1 Excluding potatoes and dry beans.
* Including meat (except lean and salt fat pork), fish, fowl, cheese, and eggs.

CO N CLU SIO N .

. Practically all the children working on truck farms in the vicinity
of Norfolk are colored, most of them village or city children who come
to the truck farms for harvest work, going home each night. As a
rule, this group of child workers are employed for only a few weeks,
usually to pick strawberries, beans, peas, or gather potatoes, and the
majority work 8 or fewer hours a day. Some of the workers, how
ever, are on home farms or farms where their fathers are employed
as laborers. Most of these work regularly for several months at a
variety of farm operations—plowing, harrowing, cultivating, hoeing,
planting and transplanting, thinning, etc.— and a few are employed
the year round. General farm workers usually have a longer working
day than those who only pick the crops.
Although some of the children employed on the farms are old
enough to spend a reasonable number of hours a day at work not too
physically exacting, a large proportion are very young and some
work excessive hours. Two hundred and thirty-five children (onefourth of those included in the study) were under 10 years of age,
and 454 (one-half) were under 12. One hundred and fifty-six (onesixth of those included in the study), of whom 109 were under 14

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O N N O R FO L K T R U C K F A R M S .

years of age, had worked more than 8 hours a day; and 76, of whom
57 were under 10 years, had worked from 10 to 14 hours. Even
picking, one of the simplest kinds of work done by the children,
means crawling along on the ground or stooping over, under the hot
sun or, as in cutting kale or spinach, exposed to the cold and damp
ness of winter, and when prolonged for these hours becomes laborious.
The State child labor law, which forbids the employment of chil
dren under 14 in practically every other occupation, places no restric
tions upon the work of children of any age on farms. Some legal
regulation fixing a minimum age and maximum hours is necessary
to protect children who are put to work on the truck farms at too
early an age and who are required to work longer hours than is gen
erally deemed advisable for the immature.
Fatherless families actually in need of the children’s earnings
should receive assistance under the State mothers’ pension act, so
that the temptation to employ the children would be reduced. Less
than two-thirds of the families in the study were supported by fathers,
and more than one-fifth were supported by mothers, most of whom
were in domestic service; the children in the remaining families were
dependent for support upon grandparents— often only the grand
mother— older brothers, aunts or uncles, or other relatives or friends
who, though often very poor themselves, had adopted the children
or taken them in when their parents had died or had deserted them.
The children working on the truck farms in the Norfolk district
have been much handicapped educationally. They were found to be
considerably more retarded in school than any other group of farm
workers studied by the bureau, including colored children working
on Maryland truck farms. A large proportion of those included in
the study had attended school less than half the school term, and
many had been absent from school for farm work for at least one
month during the year preceding the inquiry. Since the study was
made the enforcement of the compulsory school attendance law has
been strengthened by amendments, but any city or county may still
exempt itself from all the provisions of the law. Unless the schoolattendance law is strictly enforced in the Norfolk district the child
workers on the truck farms have little chance of enjoying advantages
superior to those of their parents, a large proportion of whom are
illiterate and thus seriously handicapped socially and industrially.
The law should be so changed that counties could not exempt them
selves from its provisions. A more centralized form of school gov
ernment, giving more power to the county and less to the districts,
would also seem to be desirable in order to lessen the pressure of
purely local interests in the matter of school terms and the enforce
ment of school attendance.

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Full text of Child Labor and the Work of Mothers on Norfolk Truck Farms, Bureau Publication No. 130

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